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Pick - its' was contracted to the same operator for ! rig, duration 1 year with all tasks linked serially. I have looked ast this previously and posted on it precisely because it has significant impact on timescales.

Unfortunately our BoD seem to be keeping up the pretence that the programme will go faster than now appears possible.

However, as I posted last night there are freely available rigs available in Colombia and I believe someone who attended the AGM was told by a director that 3 rigs where available in the Llanos.

So the pace is almost certainly going to be steady as the key ingredient missing for an injection of pace is a desire to be quick.

More importantly now is how fast they can turn the wells to production if they find oil - after all "snail's pace" is perhaps over complimentary to these guys.

None of the past frustrations matter if Indico is bursting with oil, remember Mariposa flower at approx. 4600bpd and Mariposa is in theory a better location and other wells in nearby field have flowed at over 10000bpd. All is to play for with up to 4 successful wells in the Llanos could easily transform Amerisur production.

For Information and context for what the potential is if Amer get it right (they have the acreage and oil potential just need to get off their arses), Extract of what GTE say for the quarter:

Operational and Development
•Achieved record production of 36,170 BOE per day ("BOEPD"); the Company remains on track to be within full year 2018 production guidance of 36,500 to 38,500 BOEPD
•Acordionero production facility expansion and additional development drilling on track and on budget
•Commenced drilling on the South Pad in Acordionero, which is designed to test the southern reservoir extent
•Spudded the Ayombero-2 well on October 31, 2018, to begin appraisal of Ayombero's mean unrisked prospective oil resources of 66 million bbl2

Financial
•Strong financial performance in the Quarter: record high net income of $75 million ($0.19 per share, basic), funds flow from operations1 of $85 million ($0.22 per share, basic), EBITDA of $117 million and annualized return on capital employed of 18%

Exploration
•Exciting second half 2018 exploration well drilling program in progress: ◦Chilanguita-1 well on the Putumayo Alea 1848A Block has been drilled and cased; testing of the A-Limestone and N Sand is underway
◦Exploration drilling is underway at the PUT-7 Block where the Company is currently drilling the Pomorroso-1 well at a depth of 10,106 feet, to be followed by the Pecari, Tajinos and Northwest multi-zone prospects which all target the A-Limestone and the U and N Sands
◦Juglar-2 well was drilled in the Middle Magdalena Valley ("MMV") Basin and has been cased to test the La Paz formation

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail/GTE/13852276.html

It's easy to forget within the doom and gloom of day to day suffering wrt share price than Amerisur are competing to create an extremely lucrative business in Colombia, in some respects we should all be very optimistic going forward.

I find reading about the activities of competitors illustrates what an amazing business opportunity Amer have (if they can just stop squandering it).

As some of you know our neighbour in Putumayo, Gran Tierra Resources, listed in London a few weeks ago, we discussed the potential for a merger/takeover. An even better scenario would be if our BoD could turn our business around as occurred with Gran Tierra a couple of years ago.

All our main peers seem to be doing exceptionally well since the oil price improved, Amerisur appear to be the stand out operator for all the wrong reasons. The sheer size of the prize for Amerisur shareholders is highlighted yet again by the latest quarterly update from Gran Tierra, firing on all cylinders with record production and a drilling programme running smoothly.

I get frustrated with it at times as it underlines what we are missing, the prize is there for the taking if our BoD stops botching the job.

PS: I have no shareholding in Gran Tierra or other peer operator in Colombia, IMO Amerisur offers by far the best prospects going forward as NONE of the huge potential has yet been realised - going forward will I trust be a complete contrast to the company's historical performance.

Jux durations are estimated (take with a pinch of salt they are ONGC figures) at:

Indico - 39 days drilling and 43 days during testing, but I would not be surprised if it was a fair bit quicker for drilling and longer for testing. But if the hit big with an oil find then there'll be no complaints.

Sol-1 and Aguila-1 - each is 32 days drilling and 24 days for testing.

It's look clear from the respective durations that Indico-1 is the prime location and remember there is the possibility of a contingent well if Indico-1 is good - perhaps that may even go ahead before the others from the same pad to test the area between Mariposa and Indico-1

Exciting though it is, whichever way you slice though, there will only be one well completed on CPO-5 this year, which as I've said before raises questions about how forthright our BoD is being with respect to drilling expectations, even for the meagre programme not already decimated by poor operational control (I'll say no more as I don't want to jink a good day).

I posted a while ago about the risk to Amerisur if activity picks up and all available rigs are in demand, rates would go up and they could potentially be unable to accelerate the programme - remember there was no available rig for a workover a month or two ago.

So I was particularly interested in an article yesterday about a company drilling company called "Pioneer Energy Services ", it's reported it's fleet of US rigs are fully utilised and rates are rising and provides some insight into where we are in Colombia with only 5 of it's 8 rigs in use they also expect a further slowdown in Q4.

It's useful to know there is still slack in the system - bodes well for getting a good deal if replicated across other operators, if Amer ever get the drilling programme firing on all cylinders.

"All 16 of the company's U.S. drilling rigs are earning revenue, with 14 of them under term contracts. Five of the company's eight drilling rigs in Colombia are earning revenue under daywork contracts, while one is earning revenue during demobilization."

No direct impact on Amer but nice to know services are available.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2018/10/30/pioneer-energy-services-hits-four-years-of.html

I think for anyone new to Amerisur it is worth noting that all previous wells drilled on this block contacted hydrocarbons, 5 wells and Loto-1 may still be reworked as the difficulty was the high water cut.

In this part of the Llanos most operators have had great success, so based on the proximity to Mariposa-1 the CoS must be good. I will be surprised if they don't find something how good it will be, who knows!

The final job before spudding is to get approval for the set-up from the authorities - I suspect they'll now start next week, no problem for me now the clock is ticking on contractor costs ONGC will not delay further.

Clearly workover has chosen to infest this BB today to take advantage of the stress shareholders are under.

It's textbook deramping from a BB troll that has a poor relationship with the truth.

The trick is to involve the BB in a debate that is going nowhere and prevent positive viewpoint from getting any attention - I strongly advise everyone to accept that we will continue to get nonsense from Workover and other trolls today and simply do not engage with them as I now intend.

workover - "It’s currently trading on a PE ratio over 22! Let that sink in. As a comparator ,TRIN is trading on a PE ratio less than 5!!! RRE is trading on a PE ratio of less than 2!! SDX , FPM, SQZ, BP, OPHR and SOCO are all trading on 2019 PE ratios on single figures! "

That's not true is it? At the current run rate it's less than 6 with no debt and massive prospects.

I've been very critical of our BoD this morning, and rightly so IMO, but when I see other companies presented as comparators against any of my investors it really annoys me as whenever I look into the facts they don't stack up, there's always some problem the poster forgot to mention.

I haven't the time to look at all those mentioned, but it is always a red flag that someone is ramping another company whilst deramping my investment and especially distasteful as those types of posts invariably appear when a SP is under pressure to encourage shareholders to bail. There is something inherently dishonest about it - let that sink in!!

Being annoyed with the BoD does not mean good news is not imminent.

Docisacoc, No, No, No -you are so misguided

you and others are looking through rosy coloured specs and bending the facts to retain a veneer for the BoD that they are achievers.

The OBA was the right decision, in fact it was a no-brainer and would have been even for the most half baked of managers.

But that's not what you are suggesting, you claim the money was spent wisely, Doc, the project was botched.

The project over-ran, was over budget, went through territory which locals are still disputing was legal, they failed to dot the i's, cross t's and get a sufficient minimum capacity agreement. Delayed too long in expanding throughput capacity, didn't consider bottleneck capacity until after commissioning - to the best of my knowledge the principle only appeared in a recent presentation. I'm from the extractive industries and learned their was no point spending money on anything beyond the bottleneck capability at 18 years old, it's trainee stuff , they're a bunch of bozo's not to fully consider it in the pre-investment phase.

I believe JW went to Nottingham Uni and studied mining so he should know better.

I would also contest that the Annuals indicate that the financial benefit of the OBA has not been as high as suggested initially - is it being operated optimally?

Just getting an outcome that is beneficial on projects that are no-brainers does not deserve merit, the key test for the BoD was to OPTIMISE it's development and operation - paid for or not is 18 months can you in all honesty tell me they have got anywhere near the best possible outcome?

The same principle applies to the new acreage, have they optimised it's value or as the title of the posts suggests presided over : Opportunities squandered

Doc - they need to improve their performance, the fact there where cheap assets available was great, great that they bought them, but it doesn't excuse them from operating assets abysmally in any part of the portfolio.

Someone. some entities have managed to squeeze the SP by around another 10% over the past few sessions - that's not because investors have faith in our BoD that would not be possible if they where more visibly fighting back - our BoD show no inclination to do anything to change the narrative (they're bloody stubborn IMO) - it appears all OK with them.

ColonelDrake - you are deluding yourself, you are using common sense and stating perfectly reasonable points.

But it's not what happened - the OBA was badly instigated and had constraints that restricted production more or less from the outset, after a lengthy period pretending is was all being sorted, they came up with a series of improvements to expand in line with operational production increases (the imminent pumping station is merely the first step), it's not for any planned purchase or third party oil transit (GC ruled that out in Malcy interview).

The truth is that they have simply failed to increase production, nothing deeper than that. With that in mind any new purchase of assets simply to boost production would be greeted very badly IMO, the bulk of the money is earmarked to development, that's where real value can be added - why on earth would anyone want them to extend the portfolio of assets when the are failing miserably to manage what they've got. It's simply papering over the cracks

The ways out of this is clear, the most desirable for shareholders by a country mile is for the BoD to start delivering their expansion programme - else step aside and let someone takeover that can personally I think it is too late for the current BoD to sort this, they've been in denial for far too long.

I don't welcome it, but I would be amazed it they have not been approached by potential buyers. We're in a very sad situation, where as I said something has to change, all our main Canadian peers seen to be prospering, Our distinguishing factor is surely our BoD.

There's no doubt our BoD have performed abysmally - and IMO compounded the failures by seemingly refusing to recognise failings and put into place ANY initiatives to improve/salvage the situation. It all seems like business as usual whilst shareholder value is decimated.

They asked for a share buyback option at the AGM and have chosen not to use it, IMO that tells you all you need to know about their stance. IMO they are fighting a feud and we are collateral damage..

As the SP slides, I'll repeat for the umpteenth time - this is ALL the responsibility of the BoD, they have opened the door to our enemies and left it wide open with a large welcome sign in neon lights.

Where are they fighting for us? (does anybody know?, IMO they've got too many outside interests, key directors have significant interests in other companies including directorships of other listed companies).
Where's the explanation for the tragic performance this year? (Not a word to shoulder the blame, lets pretend all is fine)
What's their plan to restore value (Carry on as before, pretend there isn't a problem and reschedule drilling).
What about OBA capacity? (We will have the painful situation where the capacity of the pipeline will be over 9000bpd and be only utilising half of it, I never envisaged this in my worst nightmare scenario, I honestly and stupidly thought the pipeline would hold up production)

Every barrel short of the 2017 and now 2018 planned output is a huge loss of revenue, and for those glorifying the cash balance I would point out that had they performed as per plan it would be near or over $100m

This is looking more and more like one of Malcy's, lifestyle companies IMO - where the BoD is happy to coast along and accumulate personal wealth at the expense of the shareholders.

The building cash pile, contrary to the view of some posters is becoming a problem, as it is not employed productively in growth initiatives, mostly it provides the BoD with the cover that a big deal or transformational drilling campaign is imminent. Someone inadvertently posted about Bowleven earlier - well it's very apt in a way as they horded cash for years allegedly milking shareholder with a constant promise that a big deal was in the pipeline (shareholders will remember). this is fast becoming the same scenario and it only ended there when an activist shareholder rallied opposition and booted the lot of them out.

Cash in the bank is good at a certain level as a cushion against shocks - but many poster fail to understand it is ALWAYS heavily discounted if the company does not have a plausible plan to spend it, the plausibility to this BoDs plan is in shreds.

It's imperative that they need to start spending as per the plan and therefore achieve something, anything, that makes the plan look credible/plausible.

Something has to change!

Monday is rarely a good day, and as we await news of spudding our adversaries will have their fun on low volume.

Bit hopefully their days of easy picking are nearing an end, we now await good news on several fronts and most importantly the oil price has now stabilised or at least appears to have as Iran sanctions are about to become reality this week.

As I said last week the main players in the oil market are almost exclusively trying to keep a lid on the oil price - lets see how they fare in the coming weeks. their bluff may get called with any rough event around the world and the Iranian's have already stated clearly they will not tolerate any Opec member stepping up to take their share of quota's.

In the meantime, I would suggest anyone with an average of under 20p is in cheap, those buying in at current levels may well be shown to be very lucky/shrewd b^ggers within a short timespan.

f1game - I didn't say II's had just the opposite, that support is what is missing from the equation to tip the balance and get the SP rising.

II's have almost certainly bought some of RH's shares but it appears that the bulk may have gone to PI's, that support has not been enough, clearly.

Lets be honest Amerisur was never popular with PI's with most of the shares were held be institutions - I suspect that is still the case, many have well under 3% so we never hear from them.

They are there nevertheless and I believe that they hold the key to moving the SP, many of us have soaked up large (for us) amounts of shares in the belief that the company is massively undervalued and it's only a matter of time before the sentiment changes to allow us to make a killing. I think we were right, the problem lies solely with BoD's failure to deliver on plans, in fact deliver very much at all which IMO has been a betrayal of trust - perhaps some II's feel the same way.

I really hope so and that they are making their opinions known to the directors.

Yet again we get an early morning attempt to push the SP below 11p, IMO MMs are our main adversary here..

Any quiet time is fair game, I honestly believe it is contrived and totally unrelated to underlying . supply and demand.

I believe the trends show we are nearing the end of the exercise, any support from II's will flip sentiment. I'm actually more optimistic than I've been for a long while as we are at significant lows in SP

No, yes, maybe.

"Expecting" is too strong a word though, Hoping is perhaps more apt.

With ONGC's record, I'm simply expecting it to occur in the next couple of weeks, they are grand masters at finding reasons to procrastinate, also there is no guarantee our BoD will RNS it immediately.

The excitement never ends.

Jux - I also meant to comment on the "suggestion that they are avoiding Plat for social reasons" It truly is ludicrous and I believe Bakoven knows only too well that it is. Plat is the focus of everything even the choice of development sites in other blocks is designed to utilize Plat infrastructure

There will always be potential problem but there is absolutely no evidence of it currently, and for those that don't know the rebel strongholds in the South are a long way off to the West of Plat. Asmerisur has in fact been relatively unscathed in comparison to it's peers even at the height of the unrest which subsided a year or so ago.

and your other point:

"Mariposa spiked the SP up to 27p in May/June 2017 and had those slugs at ONGC provided a follow up well in any reasonable time frame, positive sentiment would have be sustained and increased (and probably seen RH out in much shorter order). "

Spot on, their snail like approach is awful for sentiment and was compounded by Amerisur's hopelessly slow progress - but actually nothing has gone disastrously wrong all bets on striking oil are still on and the T and U sands are a totally unknown and could be very significant in the end whilst the other N-Sands anomalies may yet hold oil.

There is a huge heavy oilfield, Colombia's biggest producer (approx. 130,000 bpd in Llanos) that was owned by Fonterra now Ecopetrol, but the history of it was that numerous other companies had a go at drilling prior to the eventual realisation of it's value. I recollect that even BP had a go and all decided there was nothing viable to find. My point is that there is everything to play for and a first setback in the N-Sands is as NH pointed out a small fraction of what we are playing for. There are some big finds still to be made and Amerisur's block may well contain some.

So here we are with sentiment and confidence in our BoD trashed and a SP reflecting it, the upside is tremendous and IMO the downside is very limited as the current production and cash more than warrants the price. The downside is a penny or two at most IMO and the upside is unlimited in the mid to long term.

In the absence of and new disappointments, which I'm hopeful are now well behind us I feel we may well have reached rock bottom in terms of the SP.

The companies enemies, would, if they possible could, push the SP lower. Particularly sub 11p is a key level and there have been attempts to start selling off below that level in the last couple of weeks, particularly with MM's opening very low.

But with markets under severe pressure and oil slipping off highs there has never been a better time - yet IMO there is no appetite to sell, RH does not appear to be obliging. If the MMs or shorter felt confident to push down harder they would.

If the last couple of sessions I think we have seen a few poster betray aspirations at odds with stated positions - I see that as a sign of pulling out all the stops to incite fear and it's not working.

I reckon it is possible that the SP could be pushed below 11p for a session but it will be a short lived opportunity until Indico-1 spuds.

Eldorado - you say "I reckon December time is a pretty good time to buy in. Perhaps January production figures will impress and then you'll see a sharp rebound".

Today or any day could be the best time to buy, the absolute low, even December, no one knows. Yes the SP could end up under 10p or equally be over 20p by December.

But truth is there is no logic to December for a new purchaser, the results of Indico-1 should be known, the intent in respect to T-Sands including a drilling programme, US mid-terms settled and no end of other factors. We are hopefully heading out into clearer waters, the is more clarity now wrt the status and direction of our black than anytime in the past year - this is precisely the time to be invested IMO

Amerisur is now fighting a massive headwind in a falling oil price. even though the SP didn't rise with it and is already super cheap they are going to have to pull out a better performance up to Xmas to provide a decent SP recovery.

Clearly at the current oil price $75.7/barrel Amer is making great profits, but the perception is and will be skewed by the general market.

I have sneaky suspicion that the move downward will be short lived though and it is contrived, as almost all the main market players including oil companies want a steady, affordable oil price. The Saudi's. Russians and US all providing signal that there will be no supply problem as the Iranian sanctions come into force in a week or so.

It's not a coincidence, even India have said they will be fine without Iranian oil, having previously been panicking.

All great, except it's not true IMO, lets see what happens - apparently the reason the oil price is falling is the investment Bulls (the only significant player that wants a rising price) have been aggressively closing long position due to the above, turmoil in China, positive noises from politician etc.

But IMO it's all contrived to avoid an oil price spike, even Donald Trump was warned by the Saudi's to shut up about the oil supply problem to stop the price rising.

Incidents like the recent confrontation between Britain and the Iranians in the Straits of Hormuz are totally played down. I think someone is spoiling for a war for domestic political reason and it's probably not the Iranians and definitely not the UK though we would surely be drawn into any conflict.

If conflict breaks out the oil price could be any price, it's impossible to predict

Colonel - the pipeline upgrade costs for the currently notified activity is Nil. The initial cost is fully recoverably via toll free oil transfer.

It's also worth noting that if the programmed CPO-5 wells are successful there is a provision to drill a contingency well, I assume an infill well - so 4 in total and even ONGC would find it hard not to drill more if the wells are successful - they are under tremendous financial pressure and India is desperate for new supplies as Iran oil is cut off.

There was a rumour doing the rounds in India last week that ONGC couldn't afford to pay staff wages after all the raids to government have done on their finances (apparently it came from a company whistle-blower) - they denied it of course but clearly any revenue from Colombia is now taking on an increased significance to them. It is also the reason I think ONGC could actually be prepared to sell Amer or Geo Park another 20% interest rather be the buyer.

ONGC is a very profitable company but they appear to be caught in the perfect storm with Indian PM Narendra Modi squeezing them for cash, hundreds of $millions in compensation payable over the Sakhalin JV and the Venezuelans not paying them hundreds of $millions for their JV - meanwhile they need to fund multiple developments around the world, CPO-5 is actually peanuts on the scale of things for them.

All the above actually helps Amerisur, increasing their influence and the chance that CPO-5 could come to fruition quicker. Geo Park as a partner would be fantastic IMO - they get things done, fast and efficiently.

We are entering interesting time for Colombia IMO, with great potential for M&A.