Member Info for Juxtapose

36/38 days, if Calao is similar depths to Indico (10,604 ft.) and Mariposa (11,556 ft.).

It is possible that the Calao spudding may not be specifically RNSed, given that we told, only last Tuesday, that it was going to spud before the month end: they might do as they did with Indico, bundle it into the next piece of news and tell us that they are already at 6500 ft!

It is worth trying to see the whole picture (which is the value of TA).

The SP increased on significant volume:
3 days, from 2nd to 4th January saw the jump to high teens on a volume of 42m, a daily average of 14m

5 days from 7th to 11th broadly maintained that SP dropping to a daily average volume of 7m

Subsequently, the SP has slide back on a daily average volume of 4m, which is much closer to the normal volume, largely made up of the churn of "day traders" adding or trimming positions and largely on TA. (plus, of course, there will always be those selling to pay the year end tax bill at the end of January or other such personal reasons).

I would be concerned if the volumes were high, as it makes the upwards journey much harder, but what can be seen is that stock availability is now tight and that on any good news, it is difficult to buy in any size, without a significant jump in SP.

It is worth just putting daily volumes into the context of the overall number of shares and it can be seen that largely, the share ownership base is stable, with LTHs, both institutional and private, all waiting for payday, when this gets taken out. Many of the BOD have excellent track records in this respect, Clarke, Snow and Wardle, the latter specifically in Colombian oil, with EE.

Some of the IIs are long term holders.

Many of the PIs will have sold or averaged down by now:anyone who understood Mariposa would have had a punt on Indico at the recent lows if they had any spare cash: I suspect a lot have averages in the 15/25p range and will be rewarded in the not too distant future, as it will not take that many wells with a net asset value of £62.7 million (a conservative calculation on indico) to take the SP above its current trading range.

Platinillo mattered.

As others have said, it was the platform on which today's company has been built: it paid the wages of the staff who acquired all that acreage in the down time, including CPO-5, for peanuts and may still have a bright economic future in a higher oil price environment and provide a useful contribution to overheads.

The company, however has moved on to much bigger and better things.

CPO-5 is simply in a different league, both because of its potential size and profitability. So many of these Colombian oilers which go stratospheric, do so on the back of a single mega block or field, as was the case with Emerald Energy and Gigante in the Matambo field and more recently, Geopark with the Llanos 34 and Tigana/Jacana fields.

Unlike those fields, CPO-5 is super profitable with its low capex, short payback and low opex due to light oil and less lifting costs, not to mention that light oil being more valuable.

If that is not enough, then we have the mega OXY deal to open up the substantial Putumayo acreage and without us splashing all that CPO-5 cash. The amount of planning and work involved on those blocks, through from consultations and seismics to civil engineering works and drills is significant and will have the relatively small work force in Colombia at full stretch. They could just rest on their CPO-5 laurels, but no: instead of that, they have a full on program to simultaneously develop the considerable Putumayo land bank.

If that is not enough, they are still chasing down the Put 8 drill.

Meanwhile, even though the OBA has earned its keep, management still want this asset working, generating cash, by using it for 3rd party purchases of oil.

This management have always had a first class strategy and that should now be apparent, even to the arm chair critics. Part of that strategy is the allocation of scarce resources ( particularly JW's time) and it is unrealistic to expect that on an ongoing basis every opportunity will be pursued with equal vigor: they, like us, have to make choices. They certainly have my respect for the way they have built the company to date.

My explanation of today's response to what was an excellent RNS, is simply that the market has not taken on board the size and profitability of CPO-5 and will only do so when we have results from another well or two and a handle on profitability from actual numbers.

Obviously, it does not help that this has virtually doubled in such a short period of time and traders are taking their profits off the table, but that is the way of the market and creates an opportunity for new traders/holders on the next leg up.

In any RNS on directors' share purchases there is clear disclosure.

In the recent cases, the directors' share purchases were straightforward "putting their hands in their own pockets" to use the colloquialism and making on market transactions: in some cases, the actual transaction was identifiable on the day prior to the announcement.

The company has the LTIP and when options are exercised through that, the RNS reflects both the issue of shares to satisfy that exercise (as of yet, the company has not bought on market shares to cover the plan) and that it is an option being exercised.

JW was the biggest purchaser pre any results on CPO-5 and it was good to see that confidence justified in the results. He obviously sees this as another Emerald Energy and intends to retire a wealthy man.

It is good to see volumes tailing right off: it makes it impossible for those who have sold to rebuy in any size, without moving the SP significantly (though of course, some of the traders may just move on).

The mantra still has to be to buy the dips.

One of the key points re CPO-5 is profitability, increasing with economies of scale and well life.

Mariposa, still producing like a Swiss watch and spreading that initial $6 million capex over ever more barrels: eventually, cost per barrel will be negligible.

Indico and now 4 more wells off the same pad, significantly reducing cost per well.

Continuous use of a rig, reducing down time and hence drilling costs.

Continuous use of contractors and getting better rates.

Light oil and so lifting costs low: talk of $10 per barrel and sales at the wellhead.

Overheads spread over far greater production.

All increasingly profitable.

The icing on the cake is that our share was all funded by Petro Dorado, rather than by debt and we now have their $57 million tax losses to offset against the tax on our profits: we get our profits free of the most significant deductions facing most oil companies.

So many positives, not least that this is all happening now!

After the AGM last year, I managed to catch a few words with JW and his comment on availability of rigs in this area is that it is not like Putumayo: it is a much busier area, with rigs that would otherwise be on standby, becoming available.

Economically, it makes so much sense to keep the current rig on this pad and will really speed up the operation. Obviously, the quality of the find at Indico has swung that decision.

As we are the operator on the OXY deal, it has to be assumed that JW will be quite busy delivering on that program.

"The farm out recognises the significant value we have created during our growth phase over the last few years and this transaction will now amply fund, widen and bring forward our exploration programmes in the Put-9, Tacacho, Terecay and Mecaya properties, which we and our new partner believe to hold very substantial resource potential. As operator, we are already working on the programmes to be executed in these blocks and expect to progress those activities in the near term."

From all accounts, the AMER management team do play a role in the CPO-5 strategy, spending quite a portion of each week in collaboration.

Leas

On the 27th, there would still be FIVE non execs. left, excluding Foss: both Douglas Elinor and his replacement, plus Dana Cofield, Alex Snow and Chris Jenkins.

On 31st, there are still FIVE non execs. as Foss has not actually yet departed: Foss. the token female, plus Dana Cofield, Alex Snow and Chris Jenkins.

Overall, once Foss has gone, we are down to four non execs: more than enough for a company of this size, but it may be that OXY will want a seat on the board?

HNY to everyone and may we all enjoy health and wealth in 2019.

Well, JTD, just had a look and there was still 8 million stock on loan at the end of November, so there will be some very unhappy chaps out there: presumably, those peddling the rumours referred to in the recent RNS and caught offside by the OXY news and not sufficient time to work the price back down before this superb Indico news.

What most do not appreciate is that this find is in addition to any extension of the Llanos 34: in CPO 5, we have extensions of both the conventional compression structures as in Corcel in the northwest of the block and unconventional synthetic Llanos 34 fields diagonally through the middle, where they have done the 3D either side, but have only recently been looking more closely.

It is all well explained in the presentation for the AGM 2018.

At 30 minutes into that presentation, JW talks about not shooting seismic for the Llanos 34 type structures, but just going ahead and drilling a well.

The Corcel field was sold for decent money back in 2014 (along with some pipeline interests so it is not the whole of the 1.6 billion canadian dollars proceeds)

"I am aware of 150 m ish in June 2016 when he went from holding 8% to 14% of the company
Found that Tr1
No wonder he had such an effect ?"

You have got it the wrong way round, Hull. In June 2016, RH had sneakily gone down 6% without a single RNS: much the way he built up his holding back in 2008 and onwards: a few as little as 3p but most quite a lot more.

Why obsess about it now, when RH is history?

So you think, Bakoven, that the Beaufort scandal was a fairy story and that no pump and dumps were happening at all?

If we are all going to be direct, you do nothing but drip poison on this BB: clearly agenda driven: one might be forgiven for thinking that you possibly play some part in the South African cabal (thankfully nearing its end)?

As for Eldorado, along with his arrogance (and there was no particular evidence to suggest that he knew more than anyone else), he talked his own book and it showed all too clearly in his posting. As I said at the time "I know more than you" is rarely the route to cheerleader.

From recollection, production from MAriposa is being sold at the well head and I had thought to be used in country (possibly for blending, given the high API).

Roll on Indico and a recovery in POO

Interesting , that Amer should still be operator.

Obviously OXY are expecting JW to do an EE again?

This always was on the cards as they built up that acreage, not least because of the joined up interpretation that they were able to do over the whole area.

RH must be spitting chips re his recent fire-sale, whilst they were cooking up this deal.

So, who had the last laugh?

What you are suggesting, Workover, is that instead of doing our own research. we should be led like a bull with a ring in his nose, by some anonymous poster here, simply because he purports to have been to Colombia and speak Spanish?

Most of us who have been in AMER for any length of time will clearly see that we are being offered Spanish coin: any insight that Eldorado might has is wholly outweighed by his agenda.

What neither you nor Eldorado seem to understand is that the tribes do not live in reserves: they flit about and when consultations are completed with those known to be in the area, mysteriously, another tribe turns up for a handout and questions have been raised as to whether a handful of people have become pawns for the environmental lobby: all that became apparent during the course of the OBA, when it was reported in the press daily.

Another poster made the comparison with the Weald development and for myself, an expressway is planned locally and everyone is out counting great crested newts, our version of "sovereignty over ancestral lands". In the same way as the Colombian government hands out the drilling blocks, so does the UK Highways agency draw a new road or rail across the UK: national government everywhere dictates what happens and it is not a sign of an "unstable" legal system, but a demonstration of central government strength, looking after its own interests, which are largely economic driven.

Currently (by that I mean in the next few weeks) AMER's fortune rests on events in CPO-5 and it seems that the agenda here is spam the board with negative drivel, thus burying any positivity that might be expressed re that exciting prospect.

Workover

It is not about posting negatives.

What some, including myself, find offensive is blatant attempts at SP manipulation and that becomes obvious as the same names (or the same posters using multiple identities) switch position.

Normal behaviour, when one is no longer invested in a share, is to move on to the BBs where one is still invested, or research new opportunities: what kind of sicko hangs around posting on shares in which they have no current interest and out of date information?

The natural expectation is that any BB should have positive bias, since the logical response of a genuine investor holding a negative view is to sell and move on. That is why derampers are generally regarded with suspicion, particularly when they repeat the usual mantras to trash someone else's hard earned cash.

With the example of Venezuela right under their noses, it was hardly likely that the Colombians would follow on with Petro, who was never even in spiting distance of Duque in the polls.

Excellent post, Doc

: "due to recent improvements", would seem to be the Duque effect kicking in, but it could also be the government program roll out finally delivering on the positive, after destroying the coca crops? Great play was made re premium pepper growing by AMER at the AGM: apparently, the farmers can earn more from this, than the coca (presumably, the farmers received little of the proceeds of the lucrative drug trade).

As we saw from Plat originally, once a block is opened up, the development can be exponential and we can motor on like our peer group.

Re CPO-5, 2 other areas have already been identified, one to the south and one in the north, the latter looking to be a southern extension of our very successful northern neighbors, so plenty to be going on with post Indico, Aguila and Sol.

What an extra ordinary outburst from you, Eldorado?

Is it of any interest to other PIs here that I have been to Colombia, ridden the Andes, boated along the river highways, climbed a Kapok tree and mulled on whether a rain forest snail would make a meal for 2 frenchmen (everything is out sized, apart from the indigenous people, largely seen flitting along the river banks). Does it, in any way, improve my judgement of AMER as an investment proposition?

As for the politics, we still have to see where Duque is going to take the country, in terms of the peace process and rights of the indigenous people: so far, it seems that economics are his primary focus. Everyone here should hope that he softens his hard line approach to FARC and ELN: much as it did with Ireland, it sticks in the throat to treat with those who have promoted the rule of drug barons and armed insurgence, but now it is done, Duque will do well to keep that hard won peace in place.

Of course, the climate has played a major part in AMER over the last year and does affect construction progress. My frustration with the company has been its failure to communicate some of the problems and I did, post the last AGM, query with JW as to how quickly Put 9 and 12 would come on stream, given environmental and social issues.

As far as transport is concerned, trucking has its problems and those who do understand the climate and social issues will know just how important that makes our pipe line re Putumayo.

Business in any of these countries requires a "flexible mentality" to put it politely, but at local level, AMER has done well to hold its own in FARC country and has gone along with the government initiative as well as some innovative projects of its own, which will bear fruit. as others see and want what AMER is giving.

At the end of the day, we have not had a good year to date and all LTHs will be hoping that Indico signals a change in our fortunes. Unlike the "N" sands, that part of CPO-5 has drill data, both in our block and in adjacent blocks, which does reduce the risk. Given my view of JW, who strikes me as extra ordinarily entrepreneurial and has a lot of the qualities, desirable and undesirable, associated with that beast, we probably are in safer hands with the Indian plodders, dotting all the i's and hunting for extra t's to cross. The nearby Yatay 1 was obviously destroyed by overproduction and those careful Indians have been training a fleet of staff on Mariposa 1: it is indicative of their whole, big company, non corner cutting, risk free approach and may pay dividends (in due course).

What you know about AMER, Eldorado, would fit on the proverbial postage stamp.

This is typical of your nonsense

"But the reality is over the last year all good news has had almost no impact."

The reality is that there has been NO good news of any substance.

The last 2 Plat drills at the end of 2017 did not perform and led, by the averaging effect, to a reduction of reserves.

The "N" sands did not materialise.

We are still waiting for confirmation of the "T" sand discovery and future plans on that.

We are still waiting for Indico, Aguila and Sol.

We are still waiting to find out on Put 8 who will be our drilling partner or if we will end up with 100% of the block.

We are still waiting for The Put 9 & 12 drilling campaign.

If some or even one of those comes seriously good, you will see what impact good news DOES have on the SP, now that RH (and the "RH factor" ie all those insiders clinging to his coat tails) fades into history.

Stock on loan at 8 million: quite a turbo boost for the SP on good news, as they scramble to close out their positions.

Just a tip for you, Eldorado. Agenda driven posters are far more successful addressing adults with a degree of subtlety or sophistication: that chap Aesop has some wise words on the subject of how win friends and influence people.

Thanks Samroy: I missed the perforation detail in the interims, buried under activities, but it is useful and does mean that Mariposa production has been stable for a year now from a single payzone.

Roll on Indico.