Member Info for Eldwick

Okay if the merger happens, the new company will take a view of which asset it develops first. Before then it would be improbable that Shell would sell on anything (but not ruled out). It is much more likely that all things North Sea remain in the portfolio until the New Co. is formed. This is probably a protracted drag where the authorities can now apply political pressure in order to get things the way they want them before rubber stamping the deal. Likely to be a number of years before any development takes place, that is if any development happens at all. Unfortunately our management has no power to alter things, I feel this will become a back boiler stock that current Pi's are going to take a severe haircut on if they sell out or be in for a long long wait in the hope that a future upturn in share price happens near the end of the decade, if they stick in. As one of those Pi's I hope I am wrong but nothing I am hearing at the moment is giving me any faith................

Okay, just how much would it cost to drill Block 125? Anyone out there know, or has an approximate cost? We are debt free with $18m in the bank. Owed $31 from our operations in Egypt and instead of continuing the share buyback program why not get the money in and drill 125 ourselves? We are not having any luck attracting a partner and have been trying for about 18 months. If the opportunity was a slam dunk then we would have big boys queueing up to partner with us. This seems like more kicking the can down the road and the share price locked in the low 20's range. Its time the board got a move on here, the same old story is becoming predictable and of no interest to institutional investors who could spark real interest in the share price if the company was getting a move on.

Looks like confirmation that the short has closed. Interesting to see what happens tomorrow during trading.

The situation at Caspian is almost laughable now. Okay they think their expertise lays in other areas and not in drilling and producing oil from deep wells. If this is so (and it is hard to argue otherwise even though I would like them to hit the jackpot with several deeps) why waste money on previous dividends and why would they make future dividends rather than actually proving up a strong income stream from some other venture? It would just make them look incompetent in another field.

Two recurrent themes here have dogged Caspian for years. The first is managing to get paperwork with the Kazak authorities sorted out on a timely basis or at all . (thinking export licences, drilling permits etc). We just cannot have a good relationship here with the time everything takes (If we do get anything passed at all).

The second issue has always been actually getting the deeps to flow production wise. It is okay stating temporary flow rates but the picture is quite different if we quote when the well was originally spudded:

A5 - 2017

A6 - 2015

A7 - 2023?

802 - 2022

803 - 2023

Block 8 P1 - 2016

P2 - 2019

AKD-4 & T-2D 2023 awaiting paperwork before testing

These are only the ones that should / could be flowing. If we cannot or do not have the expertise to make them flow for God's sake use any potential dividend money to get someone in who can (even that is taking forever on 802!). The powers that be in Caspian need to get off of their backsides and make these things happen, get experienced drillers in and get oil flowing. Focus on what we have got. Focus, focus, focus. The rest is more pipe dreams. Meanwhile all us small holders suffer.

The talks with potential partners for block 125 have been going on forever. The same phrase is trotted out at every operational RNS. What is taking so long to get definite commitment? Are the interested parties coming and going without interest or is it just one dragging their feet for some reason. There was talk of trying to get a slot in a drilling program that is taking place in nearby fields, for them to pop over to our field and get on with it, has this been forgotten or were we turned down? I also agree with M1Rob that the decline in production needs addressing. Other than the above I think the RNS held lots of good news with some serious potential in the near term. Great to be debt free and restarting dividends should give the share price a tick up, although I would prefer the money was used to speed up some of our near term targets.

I agree totally with Moho30. A really lazy RNS. They could have tied it in with a full operational update of all the other areas they operate in, which would at least give LTH's something to be optimistic about, if some of the other areas are showing progress. Shareholders are less likely to get completely frustrated with the board because their money is locked in if they can see genuine progress in some other areas of the company. Come on board, release a detailed operations RNS and keep everyone onside........

The RNS fiascos regarding A5 & A7 need raising at the AGM. If the company doesn't have the technical expertise to complete them, why not get drilling experts in that can do the job. Also, do the job in one go, all this stopping and restarting drilling and / or moving rigs must cost a fortune. It smacks of poor planning and operational inexperience.

It is about time we at least had the unaudited 2023 results. In previous years the company have always given us some indication of the full years results in December of that year, even if it was unaudited. As far as anyone could tell it was relatively accurate when the audited sets were published. It would be good for the shareholders to get this information after all we are patiently enduring extended periods of lock in. Come on board throw us some scraps!

It is the receivables, or rather the growth in them over the past year (50%+), that is most worrying. Does anyone have any insight as to how many people owe Pharos this money (Is it one customer or hundreds?). It would be useful to know how much focus the BOD are placing on this and just what pressure can be put on to recover the money. Growth in the debtors at that sort of rate cannot be sustained, particularly if Pharos is honouring its debts and Capex commitments. Is it time to reconsider how much focus is going into Egypt? Some companies are looking to pull out of Egypt because of the difficulty in getting money out (SDX Energy for one). One way or another the BOD should be taking a firmer stand.

When the buyback commenced the price was 20.2 (20/07/22). So the price has indeed moved up! However, I suspect like the rest of us you would have expected it to move up rather more. Strange one this, a lot of shares have been taken off of the market to very little benefit. Anyone have any theories as to why this is?

Well 145. The workover did not solve the water issues so they were going to drill a new side track – no news, what is happening and by when?

Work has started at Well 805 drilling horizontal side-tracks at a depth of 2,222 meters targeting the dolomite. The G20 rig in use will conduct similar side-tracks in turn at wells 806, 807 and 54. No mention of time frames / expected completion dates.

A5 was supposed to start work in November - no news, what is happening and by when?

A6 was supposed to have the cementing repaired in Q4 2023 before reperforating - no news, what is happening and by when?

802, we were supposed to be talking to potential partners regarding sorting the botched drilling out on this well. Is there any update and time frame regarding a decision with them?

Block 8. Can we take it from the lack on news that we are just awaiting decisions from the authorities?

The board have managed to trash shareholder sentiment here and institutional interest is zero which takes some doing if a fraction of the oil that is supposed to be down these wells can actually be recovered. However, there are steps that could be taken to restore confidence and in oil companies that demonstrate reasonable capability, are done routinely.

The first step would be consistent reporting on each well. Clear targets relating to drill start and finish dates, depths and volume of oil should be set. Any changes to these targets should only come when operational activity has proved that the targets should change and why. The second step would be for the directors to invest some of their own cash. It makes other shareholders believe in them more. The third step should be to focus on a couple of core areas and complete them fully, publishing results on a timely basis be they good or bad.

Okay, so the Q&A’s have pushed Caspian towards coming up with some partial answers to our issues. However, in reading the RNS it is obvious that the company is still giving itself a huge amount of wriggle room in order to continue its grown up game of the kids version of “Pass the parcel”.

For those unfamiliar with the kids’ game, music is played to kids sat in a large circle. When the music is playing, they pass a large parcel around the circle until the music stops. Whoever is holding the parcel when the music stops, can begin the tear paper off of the parcel in order to try to get to the present contained inside. Obviously, the parcel is well wrapped with multiple layers of paper. As soon as one child has torn a bit of paper off, the music restarts and the parcel must be passed on. This builds the excitement and keeps all the kids interested. Caspian’s version is “Pass the rig”.

You will note that there is only one vague completion date stated in the RNS (End of September for well 802). Lots of latitude built into the rest of the drill sites with potential start dates only quoted. This depends on rig availability and results on prior drills etc. etc.

Why can’t we have a list of rigs that we own / hire and use them on a particular site until it is either successful or capped and abandoned, with scheduled start finish dates. We all know they must have scheduled finish dates in any drill plan.

The cost of continually breaking a drilling set up down and moving it elsewhere, only to break that down again and move it must be significant and a total waste of time and money, if the plan was a good one to start with.

This still smacks of poor management trying to give itself more time to avoid judgement day. The less said about the handling of the boat sale and the dividend policy the better. Both make then board look incompetent, hopefully they can retrieve the situation regarding the boat but don’t hold your breath…………..

It would be interesting to know what other long term holders on the board are thinking regarding where the share price could go on this over the next couple of years. I originally bought in under the Soco name and have been well under water for a very long time now. Progress has been treacle slow but I am still here. Does anyone think we will get above 45p in the next two years?

When you sell something as significant as the boat is to this balance sheet, you have a structured deal that has in place when and where the money has to be paid. Otherwise you are a pure armature. If that was / is in place then there is no reason for the delay in signing the accounts, other than they had no intention of having them signed in time. They may be wanting a suspension for reasons we will not be privy to. Like many of the issues the company has faced recently, that have had an effect on the share price and that were not flagged up in a RNS. Poor governance.

I don't think anyone doubts the oil is still there. I think most people on here think Pantheon have a reasonable chance (maybe with a JV partner) of getting some of it out. However, with the latest strategy statement essentially being a "can kicked down the road exercise", I doubt anyone thought they would be waiting so long to get a return on their investment. The year high is 143p, the current price reflects badly upon the current board. Talking about 2028 may not have been so bad had we not had to wait so long to date for potential good news. Furthermore 2028 is obviously their best estimate. Add on any "unforeseen circumstances" and that could easily extend out to 10 years from now, not 5. Very poor contingency planning by the board and they seriously need to speed things up. If that isn't possible I think a number of them perhaps have to consider their positions. Bonuses and shares gifted should be a thing of the past and perhaps more of their skin needs to be in the game through direct investment of their own money in order for the rest of the shareholders to get some faith back in them. They need some serious reflection regarding the last three to four months silence followed by yesterdays webinar and its result on the share price. Shocking..............

Describing the current board as a muppet show is perhaps a bit harsh. After all they're all very well qualified people, however, the composition of the board doesn't look like one that has been put together in order to grow the business (certainly in its current spheres of operation). It looks more like a board that is looking to sell the business off. Hope I'm wrong because I am a long term holder but they don't appear to be investing in experience from this industry.

The Pharos Board are masters at avoiding detail in their RNS's. Why not say what the target sizes of the exploration wells are? Why not say approximately how long they will take to drill each well? Is there a strategy / program to pay off the debt if so by when. The RNS is matter of fact and quite frankly bland. There is nothing to get the market excited about and consequently there is a slow tick down of the share price. Yes, the dividend should, in theory, get people interested in the share again but alone it is unlikely to spark a prolonged upward trend in the share price. The decline in the share price here has been nothing short of catastrophic since SOCO days (LTH I'm afraid!) and nothing short of a large exploration find is going to bring back the glory days. Investors need to know at least the right targets are being aimed at.

Alkaid#2 certainly has had a tremendous impact on the share price. At the moment because of clean up delays the share price has plummeted, shorters and de-rampers play their games just as rampers have had their shout. According to the company Alkaid#2 is around 3.4% of the total potential they have currently discovered, the other 96.6% is split between Theta West#1 and Talitha#A. This being the case Alkaid#2 being a success or failure would make little difference in the long run, so why the huge impact on the share price?
I suspect the answer lays in the other two wells Theta West#1 and Talitha#A. As far as I can see from the company RNS’s to date, definitive flow rates have not been produced from either well. Yes, there has been some date released confirming that some oil has flowed but unless I have missed something, final and conclusive results stating “X” bopd flowed has not been published and I suspect more work is needed to do that. Along with those results there needs to be a future production plan. When will these wells, assuming that they flow commercially, be earning money? Surely it is time to get one to completion and earning rather than having all this news flow focussed on Alkaid#2 and more potential drilling along the Dalton Highway.
Getting production flowing and sold from what we think we have is the quickest way to increase and shore up the share price. It would also ease our cash position and make raising money, if we need to, that much easier. The fact that we are not putting the focus on completing either of the first two wells, or not releasing operational updates on them, leaves the company open to speculation as to whether or not we can commercially flow them, with the subsequent impact on the share price.
I would suggest the company releases an operational update on Theta West#1 and Talitha#A and gives a forecasted time frame from where we are now to commercial production, in each case, step by step. If they do this and concentrate on monetising the asset closest to completion, then stability to the share price would return. Presuming there is commercial oil in at least one of these wells.
Please let’s not become one of those junior oilers who carry on sticking the drill in the ground until they end up with a dozen part completed holes all with some technical glitch in them that means completion is never reached and then the money runs out………..

What is going to happen on the 14/6?, with any luck the institutions will force some resignations. Frightening what they're proposing to do to the small investors. Get some professionals in and put the company back on the correct path. If they then want to sell out at least do it for a good price.

Does anyone know when the next hearing regarding the tax issue is likely to be?