Member Info for Grill79

Antlev - no, the 0.025 is just the nominal value of the shares being issued, 0.12 is the price for all the shares (both the placing and the REX retail.

So Sunak reverses Truss' reversal of the moratorium on fracking. Bad for the frackers but possibly makes North Sea O&G even more favourable, i.e. Dunrobin

https://www.interoil.no/?page_id=13&year=2022&PressReleaseID=2816360

Yep, so the Interoil capital raise was to raise funds of 'up to NOK 30m' (which is USD $3m) - uptake was 2/3rds and they have raised a hair under NOK 20m (USD$2m). Waiting now to hear what announcement(s) Interoil make about exercising their option to acquire the additional 21.66% share in Santa Cruz and if that happens then what work is going ahead on the Chorillos block which they have previously intimated was already in preparatory stage; 'Interoil is in the process of certifying its dedicated pulling rig to be able to undertake well intervention in the Santa Cruz operations. Likewise, Interoil is preparing some maintenance work among the gas compressors so as to ensure to have them producing at their optimal operating capacity.'
Doubt we will hear a word from our own board until we know what Interoil are going to do.

https://www.interoil.no/?page_id=13&year=2022

and it looks like today they have news that 2 major shareholders have already kicked in USD$300k each on the share issue

Jeb, no I don't think thats too much to ask or expect but we have a board who are crap at communicating (intentionally or otherwise).
Interoil on the other hand do seem to be much better at communicating (maybe due to being Norwegian??!) - they have a tendency to say whats coming up, whats happening currently and the results once done - whereas our board seem to tell us that somethings done only after its completed and they have some numbers to share (e.g. Oceano). One of the reasons I will be glad for Interoil to get that 30% as they look to be a solid partner.
I'm expecting to hear next from Interoil the results of the new issue, then their acquisition of the extra 21.66% and then whats happening next at SC (judging from the prospectus they are already mobilising for the work anyway so the work I think is likely to be imminent). At what point our own board weigh-in with any info we will see - hopefully they are just waiting for Interoil to get their house in order and ducks in a row but it could be that they still won't tell us much or anything until the works are complete like they did with Oceano.

Jeb, judging from the financials RNS it looks like its probably in the bank waiting to start workover projects;
''The Company's cash balances as at 30 April 2022 stood at c.US$1.6 million (including US$1.0 million of Echo's 70% interest of SCS JV cash balances in Argentina). Echo's consolidated cash position as at 31 December 2021 was US$0.9m, up 28% from US$0.6m as at 31 December 2020.''

Interoil are just doing a cash raise/issue which closes this Friday afternoon (1 July) , raising up to USD$3m (NOK 30m). They have an option to purchase increased participation share in SC of 21.66% which would make them our full junior partner (30% to our 70%). Stated purpose(s) for the cash being raised per the prospectus;
''The purpose of the Share Issue is to enable the Company to carry out the activities for the organic and inorganic growth described herein.
Accordingly the net proceeds of the sale of the Offer Shares shall be used to partially fund the works to be made in the Santa Cruz concessions to increase oil and gas production and to improve product marketability, as well as to fund the activities planned for MMO in Chubut and La Brea in Jujuy. In addition such funds shall also be used to allow and partially fund the exercise of the option for the acquisition of an increase participation in the Santa Cruz concessions and the well repairment contemplated with regard to Bajo Guanaco in Neuquén.''
Full prospectus - https://www.interoil.no/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Interoil-National-prospectus.pdf
So, they want to use the funds (partly) to purchase the extra 21.66% in SC from IOG resources, then also partly to fund SC workover activity + for other activities which are nothing to do with ECHO.

The 'works to be made in the Santa Cruz concessions' earlier on in the prospectus;
'' For the Santa Cruz operations, the program consists in the installation of surface equipment adjustment to be able to treat oil production to improve product marketability. This program is related to the installation of a plastic pipeline gathering produced water from different production fields to be injected into different disposal wells spread out in the Chorrillos block. Such surface treatment process adjustments will reduce field operational costs whilst allowing the re-opening of shut-in wells to increase oil production by 600 bopd and adding 2 MMscfpd of gas sales. This well re-opening will also require different downhole repairs in some wells. As a result, Interoil is in the process of certifying its dedicated pulling rig to be able to undertake well intervention in the Santa Cruz operations. Likewise, Interoil is preparing some maintenance work among the gas compressors so as to ensure to have them producing at their optimal operating capacity.''
Looks like a major block of work focused on Chorillos - they are getting their side of it sorted and we should already be in that position. So, most interesting news for us is likely to come from Interoil maybe next

Agreed , we could have guessed the Revenue was going to be v.similar to 2020 once we already knew the production was almost exactly the same. Looks like we've held station in terms of short and long-term debt now as well, not improved but not gotten worse either which is a relief (for me). Those are our 2 Covid years, 2020 going into it and shutting down wells/production then 2021 coming out of it and re-opening wells etc. All focus will now be on the current year and how well the company can take advantage of radically changed market conditions and transform our production capacity, will they, can they? I'm liking the idea of Interoil upping their stake in SC, getting Norwegian investors on board and becoming a stronger junior partner and driving the workover program - IMO that bodes well for us and gives me a bit more optimism than our own board does.
If they can get it right, in very simplistic terms for 2022 I'd be hoping to see 2021's Revenue almost doubled to $20m+ and that $9.6m of current liabilities reduced by about 75%. Not impossible but probably the absolute best we could do in 2022. Not sure if I'd be classed as optimistic or hopeful, we'll see.

Looks like no EU candidate status for Georgia yet (perhaps as expected).

Von der Leyen statement:
Georgia must now come together politically to design a clear path towards structural reform and the EU.

So we recommend ???? to grant the European perspective, but to come back and assess how it meets a number of conditions before granting it candidate status.

So, from that prospectus and Interoil news over past few days it looks like they are seeking a cash raise of approx USD$3m from the Norwegians the purpose of which is to 'enable the Company to carry out the activities for the organic and inorganic growth described herein [the prospectus]' - s4.1.
IO already has an option to increase its share of the Santa Cruz Sur ops from its current 8.84% to 30% (i.e. making it the full 30% partner to Echo's 70%), so thats on the cards.
Excerpt from the prospectus re 'Activities for organic growth' - 'For the Santa Cruz operations, the program consists in the installation of surface equipment adjustment to be able to treat oil production to improve product marketability. This program is related to the installation of a plastic pipeline gathering produced water from different production fields to be injected into different disposal wells spread out in the Chorrillos block. Such surface treatment process adjustments will reduce field operational costs whilst allowing the re-opening of shut-in wells to increase oil production by 600 bopd and adding 2 MMscfpd of gas sales. This well re-opening will also require different downhole repairs in some wells. As a result, Interoil is in the process of certifying its dedicated pulling rig to be able to undertake well intervention in the Santa Cruz operations. Likewise, Interoil is preparing some maintenance work among the gas compressors so as to ensure to have them producing at their optimal operating capacity.'

Its irritating that we haven't heard from our own board re these specifics (although maybe they had agreed with IO not to make announcements that would interfere with its own re share issue/prospectus etc? But, I'm viewing this as positive for Echo, not only re the SC Sur activity but also that Interoil would become a much more solid/useful partner and backed by the Norwegians

JohnM78 - ah yep, thanks for pointing out the open market part I think you're right, sounds like thats not it then.

Could it not be the debt holder converting interest to shares? It was passed at the GM in September to allow the directors to issue the shares if/when needed for this (in order to comply with the debt restructuring agreement) and if memory serves me correctly the debt holder would need to elect by the end of any given quarter (in this case 31 Mar 2022) and that the issue price would be the prevailing share price on that quarter end date, which was about 0.43 on 31 March. I can't imagine its any of the directors buying that heavily and it would explain the odd price of 0.43, In which case we would have effectively converted £184k in accrued interest into new share capital. Could be wrong, any thoughts?

Sorry Somm I can't think in terms of boe and those prices etc.
But, just on gas;
4.2 MMscf at $4.33 minimum contracted works out at around $4.5m for the 8m May to Dec 2022
there should be about the same amount of gas avail for spot market at around double the price (May 2021 ave spot for Echo was $5 so around $8.66 spot for right now is do-able (so say $9m spot revenue for the 8months but maybe shave it back a bit to $8.5m), so thats $13m total for gas in the 8 months, add in the 4months to April 2022 I'll estimate at $2.5m or even $2m to be pessimistic. Then we could/should(?) be looking at $15m sales value of gas alone for 2022, not unrealistic.
Also, IF (in theory) they get that juicy tier-1 workover CBr-4 done and that can add the lower end of their estimate of 2.0 MMscf/d for say the second half of the year (and available for spot market), then that workover alone could add over $2m in turnover in just 6 months. A lot of IF's mind you....

Then theres the oil and frankly I've no idea what we're selling that at - last years final results showed $2.78m of turnover from oil and it says a total of 94,693 bbls which would be about $30 each(?) - I think Brent was priced between $25 and $50 for most of 2020 so that could be about right. We should average double that $ rate this year (surely?), and be aiming at around 100,000 bbls which could be $6m revenue from oil/liquids, again that could be conservative given the POO and the fact that MH keeps banging on about us concentrating on the high quality high value blends.

I realise this is fag-packet maths but still it kindof stacks up realistically to maybe $20m for 2022 and could even be higher and up towards $24-25m if we get a prime workover or 2 done and no disasters, although I think that would be 'blue-sky' revenue.

I do wonder if the delay of final results to end of September might conveniently be the same time we get the interim results to 30June2022 (2021 6m interims were released 30 Sep 2021), i.e. the 2021 finals might not be amazing but board looking to counter that by showing much better 2022H1 figures. All speculation I suppose

Gas: correct me if I'm wrong (and I might be!) but:-
Production has been;
2021Q4 net to Echo 7.0 Mmscf/d
2022Q1 net to Echo 7.4 Mmscf/d
recent announcement re Oceano had post-work 12day ave net production at 8.4MMscf/d

Our contract is for 4.2 Mmscf/d committed (with option for us to sell another 1.25 Mmscf/d under contract if we wish) , so compared to latest production numbers (8.4) thats only 50% of our net production committed under contract (??),. Even if the 8.4 averaged down over longer period to say 8.0 then thats only 52.5% contract-committed, the rest available to be sold to the spot market.
Also, checking last year RNS 21Jun2021 , in May 2021 the company sold 18 MMscf (>18,000 MMbtu) to the spot market at an average price of $5 per mmbtu, so I'm not sure the company would only be getting $7 at current prices , spot rate has more than doubled since May last year. Happy to be corrected.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-61666693

Trader - last year they were released on 6 May (2021) so I guess could be any time now

norb - the RNS 14 Jan 2022 re the solar project also detailed issue of equity (at then 0.46) - following excerpt:

The net proceeds of the Subscription of approximately £600,000 will add to the Company's working capital resources and be applied towards the formation of the solar project Joint Venture to construct and operate the Project. As at 30 December 2021 the Company's unaudited cash balance, excluding Echo's 70% entitlement to cash balances held by the Santa Cruz Sur joint venture in Argentina, was approximately US$520,000.
**
So, as it sounds like the solar project is now binned then possibly they will redirect those funds to progressing workovers etc? I guess they will tell us (or not!)

Agreed. Also they are due to significantly increase gas output with workovers and that all has the potential to be sold at prevailing spot rates. From the Jan22 presentation the CBr-4 well alone is due to add 2.0-2.5 MMscf/d alone (not sure if that is the net to Echo fig or not) and with capex cost of only US$50-100k. Just need to get cracking with the lower cost/higher reward workovers asap. Will be interesting to see the final 2021 financials that should be due v.shortly as well. Hope to see some more rapid newsflow from now (have said that a few times!!).

Last year the 2020 final results were released via RNS on 6 May 2021. Next Friday is 6 May 2022 so I wonder if they are going to tie-in the final results release with any news on contracts etc? just wondering...

Looks like making sure they have sufficient shares to handle warrant holders exercising their option to buy - a whole bunch of warrants become profitable if share price goes over 0.8p. So, maybe if such a rise were to take place (e.g. due to new contracts being announced) then we might anticipate warrant holders exercising their option to purchase shares (and no doubt immediately/soon sell for a profit). Maybe this will hold back any rise, at least initially.... could be wrong though, maybe its just legally required housekeeping?