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Posted by keysersoze on the 1st May :-

US Georgia relations around Covid, subtle reminders.
Kelly reminding them of the long standing friendship partnership and cooperation between the two countries. How the US have helped in various programmes..

Let's see how you're friendship and cooperation deals with the FRR problem.

https://ge.usembassy.gov/ambassador-degnan-speaks-about-u-s-aid-for-georgias-covid-19-response-april-13/

Posted by Looed on the 1st May :-

Another show of support - Kelly visits Occupation Line

Source - http://georgiatoday.ge/news/20938/US-Ambassador-to-Georgia-Visits-Occupation-Line

Posted by BezzyBushFire on the 30th April :-

It says:

Frontera Resources accuses Georgian authorities of misrepresenting arbitration dispute results
04/30/2020 NewsTbilisi Economy
Frontera Resources, an American oil and gas exploration and production company, has accused the Georgian government of disseminating false information about the results of an arbitration dispute over a claim for non-fulfillment of contractual obligations by the company.

“Last week, we learned that the Georgian government and the lawyers hired by it deliberately made incorrect public statements about the results of the arbitration dispute that was launched in 2018 against our company,” the statement released by Frontera on Wednesday said.

“These statements and false news were purposefully directed against our company, its work in Georgia for 24 years and investments related to this work, which exceed $ 500 million,” the company said.

The company calls on the Georgian authorities to stop the fake and unfriendly public relations campaign against Frontera and other American enterprises operating in Georgia.

At the same time, the statement does not indicate what specifically, in the opinion of the company, consists of “falsity” of the statements of the authorities.

The statement said that the company is pleased with the arbitration decision and will continue to work actively on its license block in Kakheti.

“Now that the trial has ended, we hope to move on to a more constructive relationship (with the government - IF). (...) We believe that the government will continue to work closely with Frontera and other similar companies to return foreign direct investment to the country, ”the statement said.

Commenting on this statement from Frontera, the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC) said that they are asking the company for permission to publish a decision of international arbitration, since without it the corporation cannot unilaterally publish this decision.

Last week, GOGC and the State Oil and Gas Agency of Georgia (SAOG) announced that they had won a lawsuit in a lawsuit on non-fulfillment of contractual obligations by Frontera Resources Georgia Corporation and Frontera USA.

“The arbitration tribunal supported the interpretation of the contract by GOGC and SAOG and satisfied the vast majority of their claims,” the corporation said.

The report said that on April 17, 2020, the international tribunal made a final decision on the claim of the Georgian side in connection with the repeated violation by the American company of the agreement of June 25, 1997 on the shared distribution of products.

It was noted that GOGC and SAOG are discussing further steps to enforce the arbitral award and exercise the rights stipulated by the contract.

Posted by DomFok on the 30th April :-

Zaza interview
https://commersant.ge/ge/post/sad-chans-saxelmwifos-mogeba-roca-ucxoeli-iuristebis-momsaxurebashi-30-000-milionze-lari-aqvs-daxardjuli-da-finanuri-motxovnebi-ar-daukmayofildat-zaza-mamulaishvili

The head of "Frontera" accuses the government of lying: "The arbitration did not satisfy their basic financial requirements"

access_time2020-04-30 18:30:08
"More than 30,000 million GEL has been spent by the state for this arbitration in the service of foreign lawyers alone, and this is added to the expenses incurred for separate consultants. As a result, the biggest American investor was prevented from doing so and wasted so much money. The arbitral tribunal has not complied with the basic financial requirements of the state and gives the impression that they have won something, ”Zaza Mamulaishvili, director of Frontera Resources, told Kommersant.

On April 17, 2020, the International Arbitration Tribunal, on the one hand, on the final disputes between JSC Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation and the State Oil and Gas Agency, and on the other hand between Frontera Risorz Georgia Corporation and Frontera USA. A decision was made to share the products of June 25, 1997 I. The contract for the distribution and study of the processing plant is based on the contract.

The Arbitration Tribunal supported the interpretation of the norms of the contract by JSC Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation and LEPL State Oil and Gas Agency and satisfied the absolute majority of their claims. - The statement was issued by the Oil and Gas Corporation.

Zaza Mamulaishvili does not welcome these statements, as he explains that the main financial requirements of the arbitral tribunal have not been met by the state, and most importantly, the corporation has not been able to succeed at the international tribunal. Consequently, in his view, this cannot be considered a victory for the state.

"The vast majority of the state's demands have not been met by the international arbitration and it is unclear where the state's profits against the Frontera can be seen. Most importantly, none of the financial claims were met by the state court, a claim that has been challenged since 2013, as if we were misleading the distribution of oil and gas products to the state, as if we were not paying the state the money it deserved. The amount demanded by them exceeded 100 million dollars - they refused. In addition, they demanded the cancellation of the contract, which was not satisfied. Instead, the court granted the state a very trivial matter, which we did not even dispute. We pay the state the advance tax on the entrails every year, and this advance, which was not a large sum and is about $ 200,000, had to be paid to us. It's just that the state has our debt and we were telling it to reduce that debt in that amount. The arbitral tribunal granted this request to the State.

Posted by Zeninvestor on the 30th April :-

RE: Zaza
In the article Oopsi posted earlier, Zaza claims: 'The company said it was pleased with the decision and called on the government to end its unfair PR campaign against them and other US businesses operating in Georgia.' So FRR is PLEASED with the arbitration decision. Is he deluded ? What is going on here? More PR wars even after arbitration. What is Zaza hoping for and what leverage can he possibly have? The Georgian Govt is claiming it has taken back all of FRR's territory. Unfortunately, US senators will have other things on their minds at the moment than shenanigans in Georgia. What kind of corrupt nightmare did we all get dragged into? Nothing is transparent and never has been. I personally ignored obvious warning signs (Mole's treatment when he flew to Houston and wasn't let into the annual meeting; Steve N's disastrous last conference call; the use of the word 'marketed' rather than 'sold' in RNS announcements; the total opacity surrounding operations and finances; the mounting debt; the PSA worries; the resignations) and I was then seduced by Zaza's charm offensive. I even asked myself why he and Levan (and Dustin) were bothering to fly to London to promote the company to a bunch of solitary private investors. But the desire for this to be a success story was strong enough to drown out all the warning signs. We all thought we could hit the jackpot by hanging onto to Zaza's coat-tails. This is a story we were always struggling to understand - and we still don't. Lots of lessons learned but I would rather have not learned them at this cost.

Posted by Dulwichman on the 30th April :-

Hi Zen
A small part of your post refers to Zaza's charm offensive in London. I suspect your views are correct however just to recount a conversation with Tim from yellow jersey at the time " This type of engagement is something I am encouraging with all our clients". I did look into this and certainly some of their clients who are well established have taken up a more -shall we say - "a more active shareholder engagement approach" add to that leats not forget we did have the Nomad present at that time. Iam certainly not making any excuses for Zaza just recollecting that time period. My own views are unprintable as Zaza was acting as nothing more than a cheap carpet salesman - It is part of the job of a CEO to promote the Company but in a professional way. Certainly not having a pop at your post.

Part 2
On.ge was interested in what part of the arbitral award the company is satisfied with and what the court satisfied the plaintiffs with. According to the President of the Frontera , Zaza Mamulaishvili, the arbitration did not meet the main requirements of the agency and the corporation, which concerned the financial part and required them to pay about $ 100 million.

Photo: BM.GE.

"Most of the demands were for us not to pay certain amounts of money to the state, not to give our share of the oil and natural gas we got, so we demanded compensation for that money.

"Because these claims were unfounded and did not violate our terms of claim and did not take anything from anyone else, the court was not satisfied," he said.

As for the statement that the Fronter was instructed to pay the costs incurred by the plaintiffs in respect of the arbitral proceedings; Speaking to On.ge, Mamulaishvili explained that the plaintiffs were also obliged to pay this amount. He said the court had split the money.

According to him, the information that the court ordered them to pay the fee for the use of natural resources paid by the Oil and Gas Corporation is also inaccurate.

"Every year, we pay the state in advance to the state in accordance with the natural tax rate. According to the agreement, we pay it in 23 years. Even now, we have confirmed in this court that this amount is payable and we were going to pay it.

However, we told the court that they had to pay us $ 6 million in VAT and we thought that this amount would be deducted here and we would balance it out, ”he said.

The president of the Frontera confirms that the tribunal considered it a violation for the state to refuse to return the search area, but explains what it means:

"Under the agreement, we are entitled to return to an area where we are not working after a period of time or for some reason. In today's resolution, we retain 100 percent of the oil and gas fields and return some of the areas we do not use.

The tribunal has ruled in violation, but whatever we have to return next year, we will return this year. We were telling the state that people were working there and if we were to be asked to come back now, we would have to ask those people and Barry Gais to come back so that those people would not be left unemployed. But you don't have to worry about these people staying unemployed. "

According to Mamulaishvili, it is also inaccurate information that the arbitral tribunal granted the motion to dismiss their claim and terminated the proceedings in connection with these claims.

"It simply came to our notice then. The lawsuit was settled out of court. About 10 months ago, we filed a goodwill agreement. At the same time, we negotiated some agreement and it was our goodwill. At any time, bring it back and ask the corporation to pay for that damage It is worse then worthless, it consumes time and resources but returns no sales.

Within hours of Frontera's announc

Posted by Oopsi on the 30th April :-

Interesting article - not sure if posted
The state terminates the agreement with the front - what happens and what the parties cannot agree on

Photo: Frontera resources Georgia

http://go.on.ge/1k5m
LEPL Georgian State Oil and Gas Agency, JSC Oil and Gas Corporation and Frontera Research Georgia are again making mutual accusations. This time the reason was the decision of the Arbitration Court. The Oil and Gas Agency and the corporation say they have won the arbitration and have met most of their demands, which the Fronter denies, accusing them of trying to discredit the company.

Also, the agency and the corporation claim that the arbitral tribunal has found a breach of contract on the part of the Frontera , which entitles them to terminate the contract. Frontera denies this either.

What was the dispute in the Arbitration Court and what is happening now
Frontera Resources is an American-based company that aims to extract oil and gas. The company Frontera Research Georgia started working in Georgia in 1997 and during this time they have repeatedly stated that they have found a large supply of gas. The state and the frontier were arguing with each other in the arbitral tribunal, which has repeatedly been the subject of political speculation.

One week ago, on April 21, the Oil and Gas Agency and the corporation announced that the arbitral tribunal had supported their interpretation of the norms of the contract and had met the absolute majority of their claims. They said the tribunal had found that the Fronter had substantially violated the contract, which was reflected in the refusal to return the search area (99% of the entire licensed area) to the state.

According to them, the Frontera was instructed to reimburse the amount of the fee for the use of natural resources paid by the Oil and Gas Corporation, as well as the costs incurred by the plaintiffs in connection with the arbitration proceedings. The statement also said that the tribunal had granted the motion to dismiss the claims filed by Frontera Riverside Georgia Corporation and Frontera USA and terminated the proceedings in connection with these claims.

The company Frontera responded to this information today, April 29. They said in a statement that the Georgian government and its lawyers had deliberately made incorrect public statements that would distort the results of the arbitration. According to them, the fake news spread these days and the public statements made by some members of the Georgian government contain an inappropriate attempt to insult the US government and discredit both them and other supporters of American business like Frontera .

The company said it was pleased with the decision and called on the government to end its unfair PR campaign against them and other US businesses operating in Georgia.
On.ge was interested in what part of the arbitral award the company is satisfied with and what the court satisfi

Posted by Oopsi on the 30th April :-

My big fear as Mole has mentioned was the GOGC using a finding of “material breach” to terminate the entire PSA.

I also agree with Regdik’s interpretation which he kindly set out this morning.

If the arbitration award (and none of us know) made a finding of material breach then it was conceivably possible for it to also go on to state that the GOGC had the right to terminate the PSA for material breach. It does not appear to have done that. That could be for the following reasons:

- It deliberately wasn’t pleaded by the GOGC (largely because termination is a very tricky area and if you get it wrong you are on the hook. The GOGC may have played it safe and just wanted a finding of material breach which they could then use later)
- It was pleaded but the arbitrators refused to make such a finding
- It was pleaded but the arbitrators fudged the issue.

As I said in my last email, the GOGC press release announcing the award was strange as, in my view, if it had been given the right to terminate it would have announced it from the rooftops. The press release made a clear distinction between enforcement of the award (the tax and the costs and probably the return of the 99%) and other actions the GOGC may take as a result of the award. I said then that this other action would be based on what a finding of “material breach” would allow them to do and they would certainly be taking legal advice from Hogan Lovell’s on that. They have now got that advice and from the notice served yesterday they firmly believe that the finding in the award allows them to terminate.

If the award clearly says that the material breach entitles termination then I’m afraid it’s check mate. I’m not sure, however, that it is that clear cut. We just don’t know. Whatever was said in the award will stand legally. If it didn’t say that it gives them a right to terminate then it’s check. The GOGC may rely on the arbitral award for the finding of a material breach and seek to enforce a termination that way as part of the award. That may be a bit tricky and feels like back door enforcement.

Alternatively they can use the award and terminate albeit that this may be an additional step not covered by the award (which is what FRR will argue). In that case, this might lead to a new legal dispute in the form of another arbitration about the ability of the GOGC to terminate. If that were the case, again I’d rather be acting for the GOGC as we are likely to be fighting a losing battle. However, that will give more time and the only realistic way out is a negotiated one which with the current covid crisis and the imminent elections in Georgia does not appear at all likely at the moment.

Arbitration awards are confidential to the parties unless they agree to its publication. The fact that the GOGC are willing to publish and FRR not tells me the answer I need to know and like ODR makes me deeply suspicious (although I hope I am wrong). A

Posted by cannyscot2 on the 30th April :-

If this gets nasty
To me it looks like they would not even keep the 1%. Am I missing something?????

"The Arbitration Tribunal ruled that “Frontera Resources Georgia Corporation” committed material breach of the contract by refusing to return the exploration area (99% of the entire licensed area) to the State, which gives the State right to terminate the contract."

Posted by Moleinahole on the 30th April :-

Canny that is my take on where we are at.

If the GG use the arbitration ruling and to be clear it's not public in detail I think they have the discretion of then using that to terminate the contract depending on what it said.
That would be a massive political decision irrespective of the legality. It certainly would not be in the spirit of what the arbitration might have intended. But without the detailed ruling we can't tell whether it is disproportionate or not.
You would think if they took that course they either don't care about the consequences or have already had that conversation with the USA!
The other option as ever is that the truth is somewhere in between.
However, I remain of the view this is best sorted out away from the press by all parties.
But in an election year in Georgia that might be too much for polticians or as with Outrider the animus is such that speaking via the press is where they are at.

Posted by Gipps51 on the 30th April :-

If everything we heard yesterday was to be believed and that's a stretch then it seems like the GG want to release the result of the arbitration and need Zazas permission. If Zaza believes what he says to be true then why would he not agree to get the result out in the public domain .

Both sides seem a world apart in what they are saying ie the GG are cancelling the PSA however Zaza said we retain all the oil and gas fields. I dont see how one side can interpret the decision so wrong , well they cant can they ?

On another note I had a friend request from the reporter Luka Pertaia who apparently wants to talk to me to get a shareholders view and is supposedly interviewing Zaza Zaza tomorrow.

Very suspicious .

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