Member Info for Gerry1939

On LinkedIn, in response to WH’s post Ashley Cook, Managing Director at AQUAMANIA LIMITED asks

“Will Holland excellent and exiting news. Assuming go ahead by chinese side is soon (days to weeks), would there be any chance of drilling earlier than Q1 2027. Plus when would be the anticipated drill dates for the next wells in the program?”

I was wondering the same as it looks like WH has a rig and operatives lined up ready for when the final approval is made. Perhaps due to previous forecast dates of events being either missed or just making it, Will is setting it up so that he can get it done earlier than Q1 2027 and beat his target date for a change.

Wishful thinking on my behalf but I’m sure I’m not the only one.🤞

I think you need a new calculator 😂It’s £140,000!

You can add me to your list Only. I'm in the process of reducing my EOG holding in my SIPP (For obvious reasons) into ISAs and have already bought in the ISAs but not yet sold in the SIPP which has turned out quite nicely for me.

I asked AI how likely is it that the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce will approve Fuhai's request.

"Based on past experience and current trends in Chinese outbound direct investment, it is highly likely that the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) and the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce will approve Fuhai Energy’s $53 million investment in the EG-08 offshore block.

Here is why approval is expected, though subject to standard regulatory procedures:

Strategic Alignment: Fuhai's investment firmly aligns with China’s "Go Global" strategy and the Belt and Road Initiative, which actively encourages domestic energy and chemical firms to secure overseas oil and gas resources.

National Energy Policy: Securing foreign hydrocarbon reserves to ensure domestic energy security remains a top priority for provincial and national Chinese authorities.

Low Risk Profile: Fuhai is executing a highly structured farm-out agreement where they acquire a 40% working interest by essentially carrying 95% of the initial exploration costs. The financial exposure is clearly capped at $53 million.

Host Government Approval: The fact that the Government of Equatorial Guinea (via their Ministry for Mining and Hydrocarbons) has already reviewed and approved the farm-out significantly de-risks the project in the eyes of Chinese regulators, who favour host-country stability and secured contracts before issuing outbound investment (ODI) clearances.

Because the project only requires final approval from authorities in Shandong province, the partners are already moving forward with detailed engineering and procurement to spud the Barracuda-1 well, targeting an early 2027 drilling window."

3 weeks tomorrow since EG approval.

A search on Google produced the following:-The Shandong Provincial Government does not hold scheduled public meetings for individual Overseas Direct Investment (ODI) applications. Instead, ODI applications are processed through continuous bureaucratic evaluation and filing systems managed by specific government departments rather than committee panels.

Small/Non-Sensitive Investments (Filing Management): If the investment is under USD $300 million and is not in a sensitive industry or region, it generally bypasses committee-level "approval." It is handled as a standard registration and filing process through the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) and the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce.

The processing time for ODI applications typically takes several weeks to several months depending on the complexity of the project.

So this is presumably the hold up.

Dubhlinn, it is not the Chinese Government we are waiting for. 'The deal remains subject to Overseas Direct Investment ("ODI") approval from the Shandong Provincial government.'

Aimshame - Click on 'Home'

Hi Aimshame, Check out your inbox

Confident in appeal'

William Holland, CEO of Europa Oil & Gas, told the committee such developments could be carried out "responsibly" and the company was "committed to working constructively with the local community throughout".

Local ward councillor Derek Bastiman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting: "I'm absolutely over the moon with the results.

​"It's been a long afternoon, but councillors considered everything, and they explored every avenue."

Holland said his firm would appeal against the decision and felt "confident" about winning.

​Commenting on the environmental concerns raised by residents, he said: "We need to be concerned about the environment, but if we don't produce domestic gas, we buy it from overseas.

"Seventy-seven per cent of people in Yorkshire consume gas for their heating, so there's a tremendous consumption of gas in Yorkshire."

Looks like we will be able to watch the Council meeting this afternoon at 1pm!

https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/your-council/councillors-committees-and-meetings/live-meetings

North Yorkshire planners have recommended approval of the proposal. In a report to the committee planners said:“The application is recommended for approval as it is considered on balance that there are no material planning considerations that warrant its refusal, and there would be no unacceptable adverse environmental impacts resulting from the proposed development.

There are 15 members of the Planning Committee, the Conservative have 8 including the Chairman, therefore they have a majority. Let us see if they are prepared to follow what Kemi Badenoch is saying or are they worried they might lose their seats at the next Council elections by backing it.

North Yorkshire planners have recommended approval of the proposal. In a report to the committee planners said:“The application is recommended for approval as it is considered on balance that there are no material planning considerations that warrant its refusal, and there would be no unacceptable adverse environmental impacts resulting from the proposed development.

There are 15 members of the Planning Committee, the Conservative have 8 including the Chairman, therefore they have a majority. Let us see if they are prepared to follow what Kemi Badenoch is saying or are they worried they might lose their seats at the next Council elections by backing it.

UK could be fracking gas again by July, says drill firm

Energy crisis revives shale gas industry’s hopes of recommencing drilling in Lancashire and Midlands

HANS VAN LEEUWENInternational Economics Editor

GAS could be fracked from Britain within months if Labour overturns a ban on the practice, a leading energy company has said.

Francis Egan, the chief executive of Australian-owned Cuadrilla Resources, said it could take as little as three months to get a gas well drilled. Production could start shortly thereafter.

Cuadrilla is not alone. Europa Oil & Gas is hoping that North Yorkshire county council will next month approve an application to drill an appraisal well north of Scarborough. Planning officers have recommended that councillors approve the project, but local activists are fighting the proposal.

YAHOO News 13th March 2026

"Concern raised over council's handling of gas drilling rig plans.

A FORMAL complaint has been lodged suggesting a “systemic failure” took place in a council’s handling of plans for a controversial gas drilling rig.

Burniston Parish Council and a senior member of North Yorkshire Council have expressed concern “regarding what appears to be a systemic failure in the planning process” of NYC’s handling of Europa Oil & Gas’ proposal for a 38 million gas drilling rig in Burniston, near Scarborough.

The formal complaint, lodged with the council earlier this month, is based on alleged failures in the administration of the online planning register, procedural errors, the way technical evidence was considered, and a “perception of bias and pre-determination”.

North Yorkshire Council said it believed its approach had been “correct and robust” and added that it would seriously consider all concerns that were raised with the authority.

It comes as the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG ) decided that Europa Oil & Gas’ proposal for a 38m gas drilling rig in Burniston should be determined by the council.

A planning meeting to decide on the scheme, which was recommended for approval by officers, was postponed in January after requests that the Government look into the application."

So this is another example of "Kicking the can down the road."

What are the time periods for determining a planning application?

GOV UK Rules state:-

Once a planning application has been validated, the local planning authority should make a decision on the proposal as quickly as possible, and in any event within the statutory time limit unless a longer period is agreed in writing with the applicant.

The statutory time limits for applications for planning permission are set out in article 34 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure (England) Order 2015 (as amended). They are 13 weeks for applications for major development, 10 weeks for applications for technical details consent, and (from 1 August 2021) applications for public service infrastructure development, and 8 weeks for all other types of development (unless an application is subject to an to an Environmental Impact Assessment, in which case a 16 week limit applies).

Where a planning application takes longer than the statutory period to decide, and an extended period has not been agreed with the applicant, the government’s policy is that the decision should be made within 26 weeks for major applications and 16 weeks for non-major applications (as defined by article 34(2)(b) of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015) in order to comply with the ‘planning guarantee’.

I'm not holding my breath!

Someone's just bought 4,166,666 shares for £62.50k. Do they know something?

Sorry didn’t realise that, so send me an email to gerrytaylor1939@talktalk.net in confidence.

Will any of the shareholders who, like myself are in Serif's 'newly created second class of share ownership' be attending the Proactive Presentation on the 5th March and would be prepared to submit a question?

If so are there any others likewise affected who have a substantial shareholding, say over 3 million and be willing to combine our holdings and ask a question as to why we are being treated differently to other holders simply by having our shares in nominee accounts where the organisation holding them is unwilling to participate in a WRAP issue. We certainly will not be able to change policies at organisations like IG etc.

If you do not want to broadcast your holdings on here you can message me in confidence so I can compile a total.

It might not achieve anything for us but will highlight the situation so hopefully we would not be excluded again.

As promised here is the reply to my email this morning from EOG but not WH.

It looks like a standard preprepared response as I made no reference to shareholders who do not reside in the UK

We understand the frustration of some shareholders whose brokers or nominees choose not to participate in the WRAP platform, but it is the most economically viable and robust platform available to reach retail investors. The company has previously used Primary Bid, but they are no longer in existence. We hope that perhaps more brokers and nominees will participate in WRAP offers as they continue to gain popularity.

None of the directors took part in either the placing or the WRAP Retail Offer. This was in part due to associated regulatory oversight fees and in part to leave as much room for other shareholders once we noted how popular the offer was. You may have seen the announcement earlier today that CEO Will Holland has today purchased shares in the open market.

We face a couple of challenges in making an offer to all existing shareholders in a more conventional manner. Firstly, we only have authority to make an offer to all shareholders by virtue of the Ordinary Resolution passed at the most recent AGM. This therefore has to include foreign investors – which leaves the Company having to deal with laws applicable to new share issuance in a myriad of legal jurisdictions, requiring us to produce multiple documents such as prospectuses, at considerable cost even if there is only 1 shareholder in any such country. We would also have to deal with fractional shares, and again the cost of doing so makes it unviable.

The first Special Resolution would allow us to exclude certain groups – such as foreign investors - and to make adjustments for fractional holdings thereby simplifying the process and making it more cost effective.

Secondly, rights issues – which is basically all these two resolutions authorise a Company to do – are typically an expensive way of raising funds, are increasingly viewed in a negative light by the market, and due to their slower administrative nature leave the company’s share price vulnerable to price drops over a longer period. This is why the UK is seeing a steady shift away from Rights Issues towards faster, more flexible and less costly methods of capital raising, such as the WRAP platform.

Kind regards,

Louise

As we hold a significant number of shares in EOG, my wife and I have sent an email to WH complaining about the unfair situation where a number of PIs have had their holdings diluted due to the method of setting up the Retail Offer. I'll update you as and when, or if, he responds.

Having spent most of yesterday and today attempting to find out if IG can carry out the WRAP transactions, I have eventually been informed that they are not getting involved. Not well pleased!