Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
The consistent response from JP to date has been “We are currently guiding externally that the process will be complete by year end”. The extra bit at the end “which means either signed deal or closed process” sounds like a cheeky bit of interpretation by KTF (apologies to KTF if that’s not the case). Everyone is of course at liberty to apply whatever interpretation they want, but the consistency of message from SOU hasn’t changed for months and seems designed to allow them enough wriggle room to manoeuvre around whatever circumstances the process throws up. So it might mean both completion in 2019 or beyond. We’ll find out in due course which one it is.
If any potential bidder wanted to gauge what investors might be prepared to accept, they only need to look into this BB. This is exactly the time to expect the BOD to do everything in their power to get investors the best possible deal.... and whatever price that might be, I want to know that it was the best available. Everything else is of little relevance.
Try this - Ministry Letter of Support - Morocco Gas and GNL summit 2019.
https://www.cwcmoroccogas.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/LNG
Any related positive SOU news is certainly a possibility, but that would be bucking the trend of late. Everything still crossed... even if hope and patience somewhat frayed.
Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment about quantum physics suggested by physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. In simple terms, Schrödinger said that if you place a cat and something that could kill the cat (a radioactive atom) in a box and sealed it, you would not know if the cat was dead or alive until you opened the box, so that until the box was opened, the cat was (in a sense) both "dead and alive". Paradoxically, a similar state might apply to SOU in the in the absence of any tangible news. Take your choice as to whether you believe we have bidders or not....but at this stage, and until proved otherwise, is it not better to believe that the cat is alive and kicking?
People’s money, people’s choice of course, but in the vacuum of no news there’s never an absence of individuals ready to pull the rug from under already distressed Pis.
Whether you are a blinkered fool and invested or indeed a wise and knowledge owl and invested it would appear that a long as you are invested then financially you are in in exactly the same position...hopeful for the best outcome but equally fearful of the worst. However, it would seem to me that there is no more harm in being in the former camp than bragging about being in the latter.
And in this new found spirit of sticking to the actual facts..... is anyone here by chance subscribed to the online business paper “African Intelligence”? I came across the following article which may provide further insight into the consortium which is due to build and operate SOU’s pipeline. However I’m not subscribed so could only access the first couple of lines... which read as follows:-
“Fomento sets up subsidiary for Sound Energy pipeline contract - Africa Intelligence
23 May 2019 · A year after having won the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the Tendrara gas pipeline alongside fellow Spanish companies Enagas and Elecnor ( AEI 819), Fomento is getting down to.....” Maybe of relevance or not, the article was published the day after SOU announced its intention to market Tendrara and the same time day as our AGM.
I’m speculating whether the catalyst for the marketing campaign might have been due to SCHL deciding to call it a day following the disappointment at TE10, the success/failure of which might have been a condition precedent for continuing with SOU. Without their major partner on board it wouldn’t have been possible for SOU to then head off to TE11 alone hence why the “for sale sign” went up. Ironically it probably makes a deal more likely as a buyer would be getting their hands on the entire licence exploration area and Horst without having to accomodate a new partner they might prefer to do without. Speculation only of course.
Not at all Partridge, it’s worth clarifying.
Scf = standard cubic foot (good old fashioned gas industry term) hence 60million scf.
Scuff is the Americanised version shown as= mmscf = millions of standard cubic feet. Same thing.
For those people with a convenient memory lapse.... the bit of gas around the Horst can deliver 60million scf/day and the estimate of GOIP at the TE7 well alone has increased nearly threefold from 40 to 115 Bscf (RNS March 2019). SOU’s share alone of the Horst equates to some 10 years worth of daily delivery at full throttle. In the grand scheme of things, it’s certainly way short of the amount of gas we would all have wanted locked in by now but neither is it insignificant.... and it’s probably still enough to interest a number of suitors. The lights haven’t gone out yet.
Well..it’s always possible that you could be right of course.... but we’ll just have to wait and see. In any case, on the basis of your assertions then, is it fair to conclude that you’ve already sold whatever remaining investment you had to protect it from disappearing completely. After all, this is a house of cards which is collapsing towards zero value. For my part I’m clinging on and will reserve judgement until we’re advised accordingly. It keeps me sane.
All fair points Jez... although it’s still your personal opinion of how you see this playing out. You could be right of course but then again something entirely different may happen... but that’s opinions, everyone is entitled to one but they are no respecters of time or outcome. Your point about seeing this out irrespective of where we are currently is certainly relevant and probably spot on for many. Here’s to the best possible outcome for all Pis.
Folks, whether we think that news will land this month or next month is matter of opinion, although some might argue that past experience of SOU would suggest that the latter timeframe is the more likely. However, the summer hols are now over and business activities that have probably been on go-slow for the past 6 weeks will now begin to ramp up again. It’s possibly reasonable to suggest that this cycle applies to most businesses including O&G. The fact remains that with every day that passes without news is a day closer to news....and (fingers crossed) if we do have the basis for a deal then maybe, just maybe, some of the dark clouds that have sat over SOU for so long will soon begin to lift for many Pis.
Yep that will do it. Let’s get rid of the BOD in the middle of a possible deal. However, that probably wouldn’t help any chance we may have of a successful LE. Better to finish this marathon of a marketing process first and if it then turns out that a decent deal isn’t available I think that a change of board is inevitable... and I don’t think that investors will need to start a revolution to achieve that aim. However, putting aside our growing weariness and frustration for a moment...there is still more than a fair punt of a decent outcome.... and a well timed update to say that we’re still on track wouldn’t go amiss either.