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I honestly don't get the impression that MSC are the holdup. It seems to be the supply side. I noticed the latest update emphasised that it's also for commercial supply post-trials; that makes me wonder whether the suppliers are looking to tie up a long-term relationship so that they are guaranteed a significant benefit for taking the risk of participating in a trials.

I'm sure some of that is influenced by Maersk's embarrassing conduct with Cepsa during the Seago Istanbul (partial) LONO; it's a small world and I'm sure they will be well aware of what happened and want to avoid a repeat.

Looks like Leandra is heading off towards the long African loop shortly; last Indian stop is South Gujarat, then over to Port Louis in Mauritius.

Dai, small point — the Helium One RNS you are referring to is an RNS-R (RNS Reach) which is a non-regulatory service for marketing, etc.

"This information is provided by Reach, the non-regulatory press release distribution service of RNS, part of the London Stock Exchange"

I think they should make the distinction a bit clearer at the top of those, as it frequently confuses people.

QFI were unclear as to whether they would update the market when the fuel was released, or whether they are maintaining the "no running commentary" policy and we will have to wait until the trials are done.

Personally, I think the policy is unhelpful in current circumstances. An RNS when the fuel is finally unblocked (or not) would be entirely appropriate given it's the major blocker on our progress.

In my experience it updates immediately, but only shows 1 or 2 ports ahead.

As the container sector has cooled down rapidly in the last couple of months there have been many blank sailings (skipping ports), so I wouldn't expect it to be cast in stone.

Anyone can look at MSC's official schedule at: https://www.msc.com/en/search-a-schedule click on "VESSEL" tab and type "MSC LEANDRA".

Yes, LSE.co.uk just uses dumb substring matching for catching problematic words, which causes all kinds of problems with edge cases. It's a sufficiently well-known issue that it has a special/amusing name — https://bit.ly/3wIHXnK

Hi All.

bioMSAR references data page has been updated with some interesting new data — e.g. 13% higher efficiency that diesel achieved when advancing timings modestly.

https://www.quadrisefuels.com/biomsar/references/

Pretty much all AIM audits seem to be pretty perfunctory and based upon what the management assert with modest validation/verification (so much of it is subjective when it comes to early-stage companies).

For every company's reports you see enormous auditors' disclaimers essentially saying that (paraphrasing) "everything we assess is based upon management's claims and we have no ultimate responsibility for anything".

I think they would capture only the most blatant situations, which has some value.

Anyway, what can you do.

This isn't the RNS we were looking for :-).

I would guess it's some conflict of interest issue.

I expect QFI will have to announce why shortly (close of biz today, perhaps?).

Yeah, there's also satellite AIS in a lot of larger commercial vessels (the vessel pings a satellite like Iridium), but you need to pay a charge to a provider to get the data (you can do that on marinetraffic.com etc). Benefit is that you can get the vessel location 24/7.

The usual ship tracking websites I use for her coastal AIS haven't picked up her current location yet, so I was assuming you'd signed up for a more advanced service.

Will try a few other sources.

Thanks, sempahorRed. Are you paying for satellite AIS service?

thanks prep - Direct link to episode https://soundcloud.com/greenseas-309133450/biofuels-work-for-shipping-but-theyre-expensive

Just a note of caution rather than saying nothing will happen:

Potter was bullish about getting funding closed out for TomCo by last Easter. We've also seen regular significant movements in the TOM share price.

It seems to be a popular stock for traders with people proclaiming "someone knows something!" on a regular basis for it to come to naught so far.

V72 — yes, it will be very interesting to see how QFI decide to communicate MSAR's release from Moroccan customs' purgatory. Softball Proactive interview? Social media?

Either way, I'm certain QFI are cognisant that the end of the runway is going to become visible in the coming half, so there is not more than a tiny bit of further schedule wiggle-room available to ensure they raise funds in an advantageous environment.

i.e. fundraising when the situation is...

- we've completed successful Morocco trials with commercial negotiations underway or secured;
- securing Utah commercial agreement;
- MSC LONO supply secured and sailing underway

... is very different to "discussions continue; MSAR trial fuel still languishes in Moroccan customs".

On Valkor/Utah:

JM emphasised at the AGM that there's an opportunity to sell them an MMU, which I guess QFI hope will signal to the market that MSAR/bioMSAR is ready to go and is generating commercial revenues.

I think it's clear that the royalties earned from Valkor would not be material to our runway for a while, as they are still at a small scale with a small number of wells on "huff 'n puff" cycles until the regulator is happy for that to be expanded.

But it could still be advantageous for that to be over the line pre-fundraise rather than another "discussions continue".

Anyway, the ball is in their court now!

[Noting that any fundraising is purely speculation on my part as that has not been officially announced by the company]

Oh yes, one other aspect I thought worth discussing:

A while ago I noticed that Vertoro had won another EU funding package which seemed to be MSAR-related. It gives us access to some government-provided funding for MSAR Zero (not UK the government, though!).

H2020 (Horizon 2020), EU Innovation Fund, Climate Fund, and other similar funds, are pan-EU projects for funding innovative research and design. They excel at projects which are not practical for a single country to justify funding, but collectively make sense to push forward a particular strategic goal (e.g. climate, technology, etc).

I participated in one in the past, and it's quite common to involve several companies from across various EU countries which lets you draw on a wide pool of expertise.

There are lots of different topics/subjects/projects for which funding is available and the EU wants to focus. You apply to one — often in collaboration with other entities such as companies and universities.

After leaving the EU a company like QFI can't apply for EU funding any more, and the level of involvement allowed is more limited as UK not providing any of the funding. Having a partner like Vertoro is therefore obviously extremely beneficial to us.

See #4 on the list here: https://climate.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-12/pr_20221213_projects_en_1.pdf

"""
The goal of this project is to fully valorise the agricultural and forestry residues using the
same proprietary reactor used to produce CLO and cellulose to produce CSO™ from cellulose
via acid-hydrolysis. CSO™, in turn, will be deployed as a sustainable marine fuel blend
component for heavy fuel oil (HFO) in close collaboration with other companies.
"""

I have not yet been able to figure out how much funding was provided, and how much of that will go towards joint Verotoro-QFI MSAR Zero projects. But, it's a great thing for all involved.

Sorry, the series of question marks is because LSE can't handle UTF-8 emojis, not actually gone tonto with my punctuation.

I agree. But they seem exceptionally averse to the idea ???????. I suspect it's because they don't want to set a precedent and/or have to communicate again if another delay or hurdle comes in.

They get it in the neck for under-communicating, and get it in the neck for communicating and then missing guidance.

I happen to think they're wrong (or their advisers are wrong and are being incredibly overcautious). Better to just update as and when you miss the guidance than just going into silent mode for months at a time.

But, history tells us we're not gonna get any traction on that request (i.e. it's been brought up innumerable times).

Hopefully it will just be a footnote in the near future :-).

Just a few random thoughts on Morocco.

It should become apparent fairly quickly whether the revised estimates QFI have provided on Morocco are accurate, "We anticipate that the remaining logistical issues will be resolved this month so that the trial can then proceed as planned".

Assuming previous guidance on physical trial execution was accurate, it should take no more than a week or two. Hence, we're talking a matter of 2 weeks to unlock the fuel, and then another 1-2 weeks to finish trials.

In general, the team has been very good with estimates and guidance on technical execution, but poor on project management and client management timelines. So, let's see if they can finally get it done after all these years.

I suspect in line with their 'no running commentary' policy they won't tell us when the trial MSAR is freed from Moroccan customs, but I hope they'll make an exception in this situation, given how important that step is...

Hi. Phil Hill did indeed say he expected China. But when a group of us asked Jason later about this, he clarified that while China the likeliest, it could also be India, Turkey, etc, depending on where the soonest available slot was. It was not decided at that point.