Member Info for Maldini1

Thanks Chesh, you’re right of course. I was responding to Ram6ler erroneously assuming that the discussion point was about a company takeover rather than an asset sale. All the best.

Ram6ler, may I make a slight modification to your comment i.e“the lowest opening offer any potential buyer can make is equal to the highest sp with-in the past 12 months”.

If I’ve read the takeover rules correctly, your comment would apply only if the purchaser had bought shares in the company in the preceding 12 months. if they hadn’t then any offer that’s made and accepted at whatever price would be valid. Does anyone differ in my interpretation of the rules?

There’s a lot of pent up frustration on this board, and who can blame anyone. However, putting our emotions to one side just for a moment, the bottom line is that we’ve only drilled a handful of wells so far in Tendrara. If the considered opinion is that in this game we can at best hope to average 1 in 3 wells coming in, then judging that average over a small number of wells is meaningless. Certainly hype and lady luck has not been on our side so far, but get someone in who can drill another 5, 10, 15 wells and I suspect that the 1in 3 average will balance out. The gas is there but it will take numerous wells to prove up the potential. Trust and hope that all investors end up with a smile on their faces.

When we think about the gas available at the Horst, I suspect that as Pis we tend to focus on Sound’s bit of the action. However, from Morocco’s perspective they will be looking at the available 0.65 TCF mid case volume (maybe more) and will want to get their hands on all of it as soon as is reasonably practical and certainly by 2021, as has been noted a few times on this BB. Morocco therefore has a vested interest in supporting Sound in the coming months to facilitate whatever the final solution turns out to be.

Hmm.... with Schlumberger, OGIF and ONHYM all with skin in the game, the chances of Sound not remaining solvent must be a tad below hell freezing over.

Hi Eric, nothing that hasn’t already been well covered by other more knowledgeable posters. However I would add that neither JP nor BM seemed particularly perturbed by the current state of play other than the disappointment of what turned out to be a near miss at TE10.

I spoke briefly with BM at the AGM. He suggested there was little chance that we could get a commercial rate from the existing well location at TE10 but didn’t rule out the possibility that another well at a different location could yet unlock the gas at TE10. Certainly not a duster but maybe for someone else to drill?

Davey, the irony of BM’s words are that if we sell, it will take the new owner into 2020 in order to “do it right” and if we decide to refinance for further drilling, again it could take us close to 2020 to “do it right”. Either way maybe 2020 was non negotiable if it was to be done right.

A bitter and desperate disappointment for everyone yes... but we’re not dead and buried yet. The board’s next move will no doubt be informed by the feedback it gets from the marketing exercise, which I’m convinced is already well underway. We can second guess what prospective buyers may be thinking about our assets, the Company and potential value..but we just don’t know. My challenge to the board is to now deliver maximum value back to shareholders and ensure that investors have the option to either (i) take the money and run or (ii) to receive part payment with contingent payments for future success. To my mind these are the minimum requirements for a sale. I was reminded earlier of a comment that our ex chairman made some time back at one of the investor events when he said “don’t worry we’ve got your backs”. Well our backs are feeling very exposed right now and I hope that the board is standing four square behind us!

Thanks Eric, it was a vague recollection on my part. There will be many people here who would want to monetise and get out.. and who could blame them.... but it could also be attractive for many if the transaction involved an upfront payment and then a carry on the shoulders of a party with broader shoulders. Each person will have their own preferences of course but as and when it comes to a vote on whether to accept or reject an offer unfortunately not everyone will get the outcome they would want.

Didn’t She’ll offer £50m before the production value of the TE5 Horst was established?

Rocket, I concur with your assessment of contingent payments based on a share of the future success of the new operator. Speaking with JP after the event it seemed clear that he was quite keen on this approach. It would also mean that any buyer would need to shell out (pun intended) less for the asset initially thereby making an offer(s) more likely. And yes I got the distinct impression that the process is more advanced than we might imagine.

The wounds are deep and still fresh for many people here and no one should be denied their moment for a rant. It’s their right. Many who have sold out will be showing some real and significant losses and many who haven’t sold will be debating whether they should have done so. For what it’s worth, my take on the “sale” RNS is that Sound would have wanted to go to LE in a blaze of glory and TE10 offered that opportunity. Despite some desperate attempts to get the well flowing it didn’t happen and we are now forced to admit that it just needs someone with bigger pockets, resources and time to get the job done. It’s just too big for us. A sale is therefore the sensible answer. Make no mistake, companies have been watching and will be interested. None of us knows as yet how much they are willing to pay, but let’s hope it’s enough for people to at least recoup their investments. Good luck all.

Ideally with IIs showing some interest in any fund raising.

Shaun I posed a similar question earlier. I wondered why unlike other dry wells the RNS didn’t say that the well would be plugged and abandoned. Makes me think that someone with deeper pockets and more time could revisit T10, otherwise why bother continuing to monitor the pressure build up?

Could someone with appropriate knowledge please interpret the following from the RNS. “The Company now intends to deploy a downhole gauge to monitor the pressure in the well and will demobilize the test equipment and crew from the TE-10 well site.” Also, why is there no mention that the well will be plugged and abandoned as has been the case in some of the previous wells? Is there hope for this well yet for someone with deeper pockets?

Oops... last post heading should read “A timely reminder. All the best everyone.

JP has on a number of occasions said that news flow would be more focused towards prospective buyers and that if the right thing to do was to slow things down then that is what he would do. Now.... I don’t know if any prospective buyers are sniffing around or if events are being intentionally slowed down, but maybe just maybe this is what we are currently experiencing. 50/50, it’s our choice, but anticipating the worst seems less fun that anticipating the best and until we know something we know nothing. I’ve got everything crossed.

Please Ignore the second para folks. Surplus to requirements.

Fellow investors, if we all agree that there are firm rules around how price sensitive news is delivered, then within that there will also be protocols around timing. Before releasing any RNS any business must surely be given a reasonable amount of time in order to review, consider, validate and approve its release. It may be therefore, that within the rules a delay of day(s) is justifiable before the RNS hits the streets. The real risk of course is keeping the contents confidential before its release.

of an RNS and could take some days will undoubtly take unless everygo through an approval process around the process of releasing RNSs in the process of approving I assume that when news is known it’s needs to be validated and approved