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The major expense, I would have thought, is the kit at each end, so connecting up is unlikely to incur more cost at the receiving end as that is already specified to handle substantial capacity. It may well be that in connecting up the various pads in Plat, that piping network may already run closer to Put 8, 9 and 12 than the OBA terminal. Interestingly, a lot of the pipe lines in Ecuador east of Lago Agrio are clearly visible running over ground, but that probably would not be acceptable for new installations, as they can get holed so much more easily ( either accidentally or deliberately) and the ecological consequences of that in a waterway system are dire.

Well, Velo, SOL will be for shorting purposes and as there is an associated cost, it is a good indicator of the total net shorting position. 14 million SOL (as at December) might not sound to you like a "significant quantity", but in the context of low supply (no Rex Harbour) and high demand ("philip" going for a few more, POO, TAers seeing that we are now above the clouds and jumping on the trend or perhaps even good news...the extension to our enviro licence granted, stonking CPO-5 numbers, Indico 1 drill ready or an OBA update, to name but a few) that number is rocket fuel. What will be fascinating is to see the January month end SOL figure and see if my hypothesis continues to play out. For sure, the 5 million SOL reduction produced a nice bounce in December and so what can we realistically expect from the remaining 14 million?

Velo It is the SP rather than the balance sheet (a very ordinary affair, tracking through over the years) which is subject to (rather than at risk of) manipulation. POO has, of course, played its part in this as well as other oil companies and has offered a fabulous shorting opportunity from those dizzy heights. Now that reverses, the expectation has to be that the survivors of that ugly crash will recover and how well they do so depends on the extent to which they saw and seized opportunity in adversity. AMER, with a very experienced BOD, have made fabulous acquisitions in the last 3 years. Perhaps as a newbie you are not familiar with Colombia or the Llanos basin, but AMER managed to bag 30% of CPO-5 which has been classed as a discovery and significant enough to merit stock exchange disclosure by the Indian national oil company. That is not reflected in AMER's balance sheet, of course, since assets are recorded at the lower of historical cost (purchase plus development) and value (assets get written down if they are not commercially viable), but in due course, we expect a significant upgrade in reported reserves (as important as the balance sheet in assessing any oil company). CPO-5 is just one of the many acquisitions made: the March 2017 presentation is a good place to understand just how the company has grown exponentially and will now be of interest to a major (probably its JV partner) and none of that is reflected in the balance sheet. We are divided here in opinion as to what has caused such a dip in the SP. Most point the figure at Rex Harbour, a major shareholder, allegedly selling down to fund his SA operation, Mintails, but the reality is that he sold into the OBA/Plat 24 spikes and since then his selling has reduced to an insignificant drip. I see a more subtle picture. The story of Rex Harbour has been recycled on a daily basis, used to destroy investor sentiment and supplemented by significant shorting: at the end of November SOL was in the order of 19m. December brought a surprise, with the River and Mercantile announcement, but nothing from Rex Harbour. So those shorts can see that their sales were bought up by an II with no guarantee of cheap stock from RH and against a rising oil price The current trend is shorts scrambling out of that position: SOL has reduced to 14m at the end of December and the remainder had to face the fact that the company met its target exit rate of 7000 bopd and so I would suggest that what we are seeing is more shorts heading for the exit. The really good news is that those shares have already gone into safe hands, River and Mercantile, and will not, therefore be recycled into the market by the 10% traders It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few months: with a continuing high POO and reasonable news flow, AMER, as so many other oil companies will decisively break the downward trend. Long term is irrelevant: management strategy is "for sale&q

RR That is the general price. For Mariposa, there was a specific formula in the ONGC Videsh tender document: Vasconia is the premium product. PRICING 6.1 The PARTIES agree that the unit price of the CRUDE OIL subject to this AGREEMENT, will be calculated according to the following formula: P = B + V +/� C Where: P = Price, expressed in United States Dollars per barrel, that THE BUYER shall pay to the SELLER for each barrel of crude oil purchased in USD/bbl. Page 6 of 31 B = Fortnightly Average for Brent for the fortnight of delivery published by Platts. (Platts Code: ICLL001) V = Fortnightly average for Vasconia differential for the period of delivery with Brent Futures Strip published by Platts Latin American Wire (Platts code: AAXCB00). C = Fixed premium / discount of ______USD/bbl (includes all the cost associated with commercialization, transportation from wellhead to port / any other point, quality adjustment & any other associated costs that the BUYER may/has to incur). Note: Fortnight means 1st to 15th day of the month / 16th to last day of the month. Final Price to be rounded off to 3 decimal places. The following arithmetic rules shall be applied:

Guesstimate The finance costs were for a significant RBL, which was not used. The RBL was for the purchase of assets (at that time v. expensive...see GT's purchase of Petro Latina at a cool half a million), but this lot have managed to virtually steal assets. Just look at the cost of our 30% of CPO-5 Look at the overall size of the contiguous blocks they now have in the Put. basin.

It is not just as straightforward as trucking cost, as you can see from the AMER May presentation (slide 9). Route chosen also commits to end prices which then make a large part of the differentiation. From the ONGC sales tender document, it attracts the Vasconia premium to Brent: geographically, being the llanos basin, it is much closer to the Covenas route that Plat. which is in S.Colombia. The terms are in ANNEXURE - I from Pg4 http://www.ongcvidesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/TENDERDOC-Oil-sale-Revised-dates.pdf We do not know the transport costs and we also do not know if it is only trucked to the nearest pipeline, but we do know that infra structure in this region is generally much better.

RH and the big institutional holders can be monitored continually, as the company know in which account(s) the shares are held, but smaller fry are in unidentified nominee accounts and a smart operator (or "ring") can hold in multiple accounts and the company is none the wiser. It looks to be a shorting exercise: a figure of 19 million has been quoted. An offer could certainly wipe them out, as even with inside knowledge, they would struggle to buy back that sort of holding without moving the market substantially. It is not impossible that it could be a potential purchaser, softening up the price?. The laugh will be if they crank up Mariposa 1 to Yatay 1 levels, (10,000 bopd from one well) as part of the LTT for a period and there are other operating announcements which could do the same trick: it just needs enough to start the shorts running for cover.

Just adding to that excellent post, JTD, I would have thought that ONGC would step in to grab the jewel in the crown, should any reorganization take place and they have substantial funds raised waiting for such opportunity. Furthermore, MBO is not the modus operandi of this management team, whose track record shows them creating value and selling out: in this case, there are excellent candidates for parts and for the whole: South America in general and Colombia in particular is the current "must have" address and the presence of the Indian and Chinese national oil companies, the end consumers, endorses that point of view. As you so rightly say, they need to pull out their finger operationally in Putumayo and crank up the PR on CPO-5 or they are going to get shredded at the next AGM.

"'In order to position the Company to take advantage of any opportunities of a capital or strategic nature that may arise". Back in 2014, the area held by Amerisur in Putumayo was small and the cost of increasing it was expected to be significant, hence the facility: without it, they could not grow in any meaningful way by extending success in Platanillo into the surrounding areas. As events have unfolded, they have managed to amass a significant acreage: the September 2017 presentation is quite a colorful representation of the accumulations from 4 different acquisitions. For each of these they have paid cash or shares (plus taking on and in some cases re farming out work commitments). Even the cash component has effectively been raised by shares, as there was a placement in 2016 of 35 million, which was also used to fund the other big strategic opportunity, the OBA. So, a complete reversal of strategy from risk on to risk off, not even drawing on the facility for the purpose for which it was ear marked, capital and strategic opportunities and certainly not getting into debt to cover day to day costs: financial discipline has been rigid (possibly even a straight jacket). With hindsight, their strategy can be seen to be excellent, but of course, in this case they had foresight to anticipate the changing market conditions and adapt. It has to be said that they are quite smug about their achievements from a business point of view and see no problem in rewarding themselves handsomely, despite the fact that shareholders have not yet benefited from what has been achieved. Looking at the overall remuneration, the bonus is set on achieving multiple goals (not fully specified in figures) and the LTP does have a share price component, but also has a relationship via a basket of other oilers and that makes it meaningless for shareholders. (There is none for 2017, so that will be another saving). It does cross my mind that JW's basic may historically have included danger money (what is the price of a life?), but if that is so, then there must be a case for review as extreme danger recedes? It is interesting to think about remuneration specifically with regard to CPO-5. Should management be highly rewarded for their professional skill in acquiring a stellar asset for peanuts or paid nothing, on the grounds that it was a lucky chance, involving little effort then and nothing now, as ONGC Videsh slave away doing all of the work? It does cross my mind that the absence of detail on CPO-5 is a reflection of the work load, but as a shareholder, I am only interested in potential and CPO-5, being the star of the show, surely deserves far more attention?

Thanks, JTD, for sharing your research. That map is really interesting. Have you tried to look at it in conjunction with slide 32 of the analysts' presentation of September 2016, which also has a scale on it and shows Mariposa, Loto and Sol?. Judging from the information that you have ferreted out, it looks as if Indico is on the Mariposa/ Sol north/ south line. I made it 10 kilometers from Mariposa to Sol. Sol is elephant hunting. As you say, the lack of interest is quite extraordinary. Maybe with all your skills, you should be doing the PR for the company,: they seem to have gone to sleep on the job.

Bakeoven You have repeated the error of OBA figures only and that certainly confuses the picture. Are you unaware that Mariposa production is sold at the wellhead by ONGC Videsh and trucked from there, going nowhere near the OBA and therefore not included in the OBA figures? From November, you are understating total production, as non OBA sales have re-entered the frame, to use your terminology.

Bakoven The straight average for each calendar day was 6051 BOPD, so a 950 BOPD shortfall, not your figure. That figure of 6051 BOPD probably only included a week or so, of the Mariposa at full throttle and so to extrapolate forward a monthly shortfall (even based on the corrected 950 BOPD) is extremely pessimistic. Whilst I would not bet the ranch on it, they have a good chance of achieving the 7000 BOPD exit and with a decent result from Plat 27 it should be sustainable. The monthly statistics are really useful, acting as a straight jacket: they give us the opportunity to judge the company on hard fact on a rolling basis and it is up to us to take or leave any narrative embellishment: I certainly choked on the Pope and regard with a cynical eye the fortuitous expansion of the OBA in step with Plat.production. The way the bid has been attacked is much more consistent with the periodic shorting raids than concealment of bad news which always starts on the drip. It certainly is wholly inconsistent with RH's modus operandi, exiting quietly to maximize his return (running on 60k per day as an average over 6 months). So, hopefully good news on Plat 27 and possibly the announcement of Indico (tenders seem to be going out and the drill is probably still there)) or perhaps receipt of the extended environmental licence for the new pay zone.

Nothing obvious on fundamentals: probably a bit early for Plat 27, not due until next week. Perhaps POO yesterday, but the drop occurred after that event. Stock on loan is apparently up at 20 million and so there is a heavily vested interest in an orchestrated raid on the SP: AMER has been subject to that over the years, as can be seen by the V shaped dips for no particular reason. If they get it right, they can get technical traders and stops to exacerbate the effect and that looks to have happened yesterday afternoon. There have been a few signs that it was about to happen and the timing is difficult for the company, as i is in slow burn rather than blockbuster territory, until the next piece of "real" news.

I am in full agreement with everyone pointing to a lack luster Platinillo 2017 drilling campaign post the AGM. Plat 21 a poor cement job Plat 25 side tracking to get production as payback on the drilling cost. So, now drilling Plat 27 and it needs to be a success, like Plat 22, to get the company SP back on track. It is easy for us to criticize, but there was always risk stepping out to the north and we were lucky that at least the first well, Plat 22, was successful. One of the merits of this particular campaign is that they are also collecting data for the new pay zone (they drill through it to reach the U sands, hence mentioning on each RNS whether or not the data confirms the model). So, unlike CPO-5, which is delivering right now, Platinillo is still very much in the "jam yesterday and jam tomorrow" category and it will take a successful Plat 27 to hint at following in Gran Tierra's footsteps. In fairness GT have been in the area longer and it does take time to get that first foothold established: we do have the benefit of the OBA, which may accelerate the process.

Under '"Wonderland" rules "It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day, you know", but perhaps we are luckier and jam can happen. To some extent, CPO-5 was jam in May: that discovery was big news. Now it is producing from the first well at over 3000 BOPD (and at a 1000 BOPD to us) with the added kudos of it being a second field: surely that is a small taste of jam today? We might be swimming in jam tomorrow, with an increase from this first well and more to be drilled. Some of those fields at that address are spectacular and have been company makers: it is a shame that the company presentations give so little space to this block and its potential, leaving us all to dig around by ourselves in the geology and fortunes of companies in the surrounding blocks.

Big day for us and a lot of talk about Putin and the war against USA. It makes no sense as Russia, with a less diversified economy in which oil is a major component of export revenue, is equally hurt by lower oil prices. Shale has got a bad name as a ponzi scheme and it will take quite a change to shake off that image. No holdings notification from the registrar recently and so no reason to believe that RH has been selling in any size since the end of September (and his sales in the preceding 3 months were not noteworthy). It is quite difficult to see if he is still funding the gold tailings enterprise in SA (as identified by JTD's excellent sleuthing, I think) as very little is in the public domain. A really good result from CPO-5 would help, but I expect they will prioritize well integrity above production and by its very nature as a LTT, the focus is on the data collection rather than production: role on Indico 1.

It was a pipe line story (Trans Canada's Keystone) and doubts over Russia continuing to withhold supplies. The question has to be whether the Saudis will, if that happens, with hold more themselves and they might, as the state position is different. Firstly, overall, less barrels at more money can be a fairly neutral position. Secondly, that sale of the state company is a one off monetizing of their asset. As you say, AMER do need to get some consistency with an upwards trend: we need to see an established base level with the new field(s) as an addition.

Out this morning: worth a read for anyone invested (and the report does cover supply and demand for the other basket components). No contest between SLP and JLP: one promises and the other delivers! Too many false starts and dreams from JPL and still not in profit: potentially dangerous where debt involved.

Perhaps the "glass half full" way of looking at it is that the recent SP trend seems to have been arrested. At the current POO, it is excellent news that we are finally producing and selling: a really welcome addition to the coffers and should fund the roll out.

I'll second that, JTD, particularly additional wells. " The second well on the block, Indico-1, targeting an up-dip section of the Mariposa play on the Lower Sands is expected to spud in H1 2018". All as planned .