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It is most probably associated with a loyalty reward to those employees who have shown significant contributions above and beyond over the past year. Plus avoids paying it out as cash.

A new era starts, a focus on the deeps and some smaller shallow well drilling interests in recently acquired interests in Block 8 and WS. The shallows were always the cash cow, but never a company making venture, well not enough for the concert party or other interested investors, so the new focus now is on getting one the deeps working and proving up the potential. As far as cash is concerned, 88m goes into the operating subsidiary BNG, for the sale of the shallows, that will partly go towards repayment of historical debts, with the rest available for investing directly into the deeps, B8 or WS. Should Caspain decide to dispose of its indirect interest (I assume there is an intermediary that holds the shares in BNG) of 50% in BNG, then we will have two JV partners in BNG, which in turn still owns 100% of the licenses, of which the deeps now have a 3 year production license, presumably with a work commitment to fulfil on those deeps, before that license gets extended. A kin to an exploration license with the right to sell anything it produces on the international market, which is the quirky part. So as far as cash funding, BNG will have approx 60m (88m less existing debts that will be repaid) to spend on its various licenses and Caspian (via a intermediary subsidiary) will have cash from the sale of 50% interest in BNG to invest back into drilling, matched by its now new JV partner who will also invest the same amount of new funding into the drilling of the deeps and other interests. This is the way I see it. I caveat this as really have not been unto date on this company for some time now and do not follow it much anymore - but probably not far wrong.

Have not being paying much attention to Caspian in recent years, so will have missed a lot of background, however, looking at this recent deal, as I understand it Caspian or one of the intermediary company's that sits between the listed UK entity and the operating subsidiary in Kazakhstan has agreed to sell 50% of its 99% interest in its remaining asset, BNG LLP. BNG I assume still holds all the licenses in Kazakhstan, subject to renewal and of its deep structures and so should the AR deal not go through, then Caspian are selling a majority holding in its only producing company that owns all licenses whether it be West Shalva, Block 8 or the existing shallow and deep structures on their historic BNG license. They then would hold 49% of this after the sale, a minority stake. The proceeds of 72.5m goes to the parent company of BNG LLP and Caspian plc will add 12.5m to have available cash of 85m to I assume fund 49% of its share of future expenditure on the BNG deeps and /or shallow wells (if the AR sale does not go through). I assume the buying party then funds their 50% share of any future development costs as well.

Of course Caspian has been down this path many times before when they sold 45% interests in BNG LLP to Calamans and KNOC on successive deals to fund drilling and exploration activity on the BNG license areas to fulfil their work program commitments under the original license arrangements. They managed to get these sale of shares back if I remember correctly, as the shallows were never big enough to justify continued investment for the farm in partners. These new proceeds must be linked to the new license extension and the work program that is being negotiated for the deeps and this is their way of funding those new commitments under any extension to the licence. I assume the extension will come with additional work commitments ?

I assume when and if the AR deal goes through the proceeds from this disposal end up in BNG LLP the holder of the shallow licenses. Not sure what the net cash from that deal is after paying off all BNG LLP liabilities, but say they end up with 50-60m in BNG, then this will be spent first on the deep well development program before cash calls go out to the shareholders in BNG.

I guess the added bonus of doing both deals, with selling their interest in the shallow licenses and selling 50% of BNG, there should be funds available within Caspian to finance the recommencement of the companies dividend policy, much to the distress of most of its shareholders, but another way to make tax efficient payments to the concert party.

May have gone off on the wrong take on all of this so would be happy for any of you experts on this Board to correct my thinking, as sadly I am out of touch with this company.

Existing appraisal license extended for a further 12 months. 500 bbls per day tested on 803, so far. Sale of shallows process still in process

We know with the annual financial statements, management are forced to make full disclosure of all aspects of the business mainly within the Chairman's report where Clive will give details of any update in strategy, as well as issues impacting their operational performance over the reporting period and particularly H2 2022, which has not yet been reported on in any detail. Any significant events in 2023 should also be included in the post balance sheet note disclosure as well as the Chairmans Statement. Should hear more about the development of the infrastructure of which recent tenders would indicate they are building camp facilities and possibly additional storage capacity. Too early for pipelines but as soon as they do start getting the shallows to flow again and production increases, additional facilities will definitely need to be in place. Just a timing issue at the end of the day, we PI's are impatient and want immediate returns but a life of an oil company extends way beyond our timescales, so all we do a wait and watch it develop over time, preferably with dividend income. The publication of the financial statements will crystallise the dividend issue as they have previously said that the quarterly dividend policy will commence and be announced when the 2022 financials are finalised. These have been obviously delayed and gone beyond their May 2023 timeline. 10 days to go ......

We have an explanation for the delays in news and looks like 802 has been on hold with supply chain issues. Well 142 still not up and running yet and 803 about to be spudded in next few weeks and completed before year end. Production slightly down from previous levels to 2,000 Bopd. Looks like they are not going to announce their dividend policy until the 2022 year end financial statements have been produced, which is what they reported some months ago when the changed to a new quarterly basis of dividend payments. The sale of the explorer is a surprise and leaves a number of questions open as to whether we now get 100% of the income from the hiring of the vessel in 2024 or just 50% and the sale proceeds of $22,5m are lower than expected. No idea who the buyer is, however, we will be sharing future revenue streams with them going forward from other rentals for future drilling contracts going forward. Profitability of Caspian guaranteed with existing production levels, proceeds of the sale of the vessel in 2023 and rental income in 2024 and beyond, however, still many questions open based on this news. More patience needed. Will know more on dividends come the end of the month.

One possible explanation at this late stage is that they are contemplating a deal and negotiating something and can't release anything until terms are agreed. Very strange that they have not released the dividend declaration yet, the 3 month period is all but elapsed, not sure what happens from here if not released tomorrow.

I suggest they are buying to get back in before the next 3 month dividend is declared. Inevitable those who sold recently will want to buy back in for the next dividend. Probably was too long for those who sold to wait for the next dividend, so freed up the cash for 3 months and then buy back in over next 10 days or so. Should see this continue next week as well.

Foe those of us who know nothing about NUR 1 and to avoid any confusion with Caspian, which I think it is not relevant in any way. Can someone please clarify. I know we are all getting bored with waiting, but posting here about failures with other companies is not the best way forward.

The communication policy of Caspian constantly change across time, moving from monthly regular updates to quarterly operational updates to more recently reverting back to periods of long silences. Management are confident in the strategy and current success of the company and quietly move forward developing the asset and don't see the need to keep us all updated. No point in trying to speculate where they are with all that they are doing. They announced they are waiting for the finalisation of the annual accounts before making their first quarterly dividend announcement, which is due in May and payable in June. The annual accounts are not normally published until June, if past years performance is anything to go with, so imagine it is likely they will be declaring before publishing the 2022 accounts. We know we will get a full operational update within the published accounts, so we have a max time frame of 30 June for this, but whether we get one independent of this beforehand, lets hope so. Lots to look forward to as the company proves up the deep structures and develops further the shallows. Will the company have the confidence to increase the dividend rate based on the current/potential production levels and the knowledge that profits will be substantially increased next year due to the income from the vessel, maybe ? Tick tock......

Looks like there will be continued selling leading up to the end of April, before the buyers will return leading into the next dividend declaration. The opportunity to secure a quarterly dividend payment will be enough to drive the price back up to 7-8p, before the impact of any other operational news update. So expect an up tick leading into 1st week of May.

DM,

Even with Caspian discoveries and deep wells drilled so far, they have been trying to establish the extend and boundaries to the oil found at multiple levels, of which there have been many. Who knows what exists between the salt layer at such depths of over 4 kilometres down. Each well has found multiple shows of oil with intervals of differing thickness, all of which are capable of producing from in the future. Caspian has also bought additional neighbouring acreage to the 1400 square kilometres of BNG license area as they know the oil could continue beyond their existing boundaries. Obviously timescales to prove up all of the potential will take time, but when you have a self financing company from existing production, with its own drilling rigs to develop the asset, the upside is unlimited. Particularly when they still own 99% of the asset.

The silence continues on updates on the operational aspects of the Company, even though there are a number of wells they have been working on both MJF and Yelemes. Must be facing some challenges somewhere along the process otherwise good or bad news would have been released by now. We have a period of 5-6 weeks before those who have been selling look to buy back in before the next dividend announcement, which will also coincide with the Company being forced to give an operational update as part of the publication of the 2022 annual financial statements. Seem to remember we were in a similar position last year. The cycle and waiting continues.

The life cycle for oil companies extends over years, decades and beyond. This is a point in time, one of many deep wells they have drilled and the news or update when we get it will probably be summarising the latest status and what further work is needed. So it is not so much do or die, but more do (the well is still producing steady quantities ) or further work is needed to get to a position when they can test flow it (as we already know the oil is there). The company is on a sound footing, steady income stream from its shallow wells, costs covered by existing cashflows, no debt, production licenses in place and full ownership of the asset as well as generating profits and paying monthly dividends. Well 802 is just another step along its life cycle and if successful, will be further icing on the cake, but if further work needed, then they will just move onto the next step in their busy work program. As always with Caspian, just need a load of patience. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

All quiet on this board recently as the wait goes on. Weather is improving now in Kazakhstan, the thaw will be happening across the country and the thick layer of winter snow will be melting, creating the usual floods around the BNG license area. The workers will be well used to this and infrastructure, roads and camps will now be in place to ensure work is not delayed. As we get toward the end of March, working conditions will be at their best through to the end of June when work plans can be executed at a much more efficient rate, as the warm climate returns to the area. News must now be imminent for 801 and possibly 142, but thereafter news will be coming in as the work rate increases with the improvement in the weather.

The last CPR was done by Gaffney Cline, I think in 2010, a long time ago, and is based on very preliminary data and when Roxi had production from South Yelemes and possibly on early work undertaken on MJF. The reserve auditors generally take a very conservative view on available data and only give credit for commercial wells, discounting heavily the potential of yet to be developed deep horizons and are quantified in terms of possible and remote categories of reserve quantities. Therefore the existing CPR report is so out of date and is virtually meaningless. The Brokers use this information but do their own calculations based on current date available to the Company and geologists based on current status of wells drilled, oil price and production levels. They too will use very conservative values to come up with their valuations, taking the lower estimates and more conservative perspectives of the risks associated with developing the asset. What the company needs is to get its CPR updated to reflect the value of the MJF structure and the data available from all deep wells drilled from both Airshagyl and North Yelemes. This won't probably happen until either 801, 802 or A5 have completed a 90 production test and one of them deemed to be a commercial well. At this point the reserve estimates and valuations will change significantly. Once published there will be an increase in interest from majors looking to buy out the Company and acquire the reserves potential for their benefit.

As Caspian does not use the CPC pipeline, as it is currently selling to local mini refineries, this will have no impact on the sale of Caspian's crude.

Into the new year, with probably the most optomistic outlook that we have seen here for the past 15 years or so. Production for 2021 was approximately 515,000 barrels of oil, first 6 months of 2022, we produced 414,000 barrels. If we assume an average of 2,400 barrels of oil per day for the 2nd half of 2022, we should end up with production of 850,000 barrels of oil, which would be a 65% increase over 2021.

The average price achieved in the first 6 months of 2022 was $62 per barrel, giving $25,6 million in revenues, which is equivalent to the 12 months revenues for 2021. So what will we generate from the second 6 months, selling to local mini refineries probably achieving circa $40 per barrel for the period, but saving on transportation costs and agency selling costs, so the net back will be probably higher in this period. However, we could be looking at turnover of $43 million for 2022, with much higher profitability. The price was higher in the first six months because Caspian were selling internationally as well as into the domestic market and had higher overall oil prices than in the 2nd period. Should see some healthy profitability from this once the year end accounts are produced.

Production will be increasing in 2023 to 4000 to 5000 barrels a day as soon as they do some remediation work on the MJF wells and hopefully the successful testing of well 802, timeframes on this are always uncertain , but the likelihood that we could see production increasing by 100% from levels seen in 2022 by the end of the 2nd quarter 2023.

Price of oil holding up and getting back to the high $80's so the potential for achieving higher cashflows as production levels and profitability increases are definitely just round the corner.

Probably too early for this to impact the current dividend rate, but we will find out this week, what the 4th dividend will bring.

NBS and Rav, well said NBS, we should not be comparing Caspian with past failures who were riddled with debt or farmed out their interest to explore or develop their acreage. Caspian has no debt and still owns 99% of the license area. There management, also shareholders are fully committed to maximise shareholder value. So we are at a very strong point in the development of the asset, with no debt and no dilution of interest, with ongoing production of revenues from the shallows and the potential to find a solution for the deeps, paying a monthly guaranteed dividend and drilling solution which virtually guarantees additional revenue from existing wells never mind new wells about to be drilled. So seriously, do not compare this gem to other failures from the past, as there is no comparison. The only thing needed is time and patience.

JsD, do you have any confirmation that GC are in Almaty, if so presumably updating the certification of the reserve estimates ?