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I suspect the 90 days was plucked from his behind. Even if there was nothing sinister going on at DCCAE, can PVR survive this glacial rate of the permitting progress? 13 months to approve a simple seabed survey, now 15 months and counting on the lease undertaking, the appraisal drilling would be another permit required, field development probably several more. The level of bureaucracy is unmanageable, even if one didn't suspect Ryan was intentionally out to clobber it. And you can bet that Friends of the Irish Environment and other loony toons will be all over it like a rash at every stage, with vexatious litigation.
"Sound is Registered in England and Operates under the 2006 Company's Act......."
SEMS who are facing the major tax claim are registered in Rabat. SEMS is "Sound Energy Morocco SARL AU". The acronym stands for a particular type of Moroccan legal entity -- Société à Responsabilité Limitée Associé Unique -- a single-shareholder limited liability company.
Here's the article for you, just on the off chance you have something more substantial than childish insults to add:
https://www.businesspost.ie/news/providence-hopes-to-obtain-barryroe-licence-in-next-90-days/
This is all entirely revisionist. Menton said he expected the lease undertaking would be granted within 90 days ... not that we would find out about the Rockhopper case by then, not that he would be able to sue the government for compensation. Ninety days later there is no lease undertaking. Menton was wrong. And not just slightly wrong -- we know from media reports that Ryan has refused to discuss or even meet with anyone about the possibility of offshore hydrocarbon extraction. The most optimistic spin that can be put on it is that the civil servants at DCCAE told Menton that they would complete the bureacracy by now and that it would then be up to Ryan to sign off. The alternative is that Menton was just blustering and plucked the 90 day number out of thin air. Either way, he's still wrong and Barryroe is still in limbo with no indication of any progress.
Mamms, agree with you about the lack of realism about what Ryan must or most not do. He is utterly, implacably opposed to offshore drilling. Even were he to grant the lease undertaking the government would be immediately sued by groups like Friends of the Irish Environment, who have litigated successfully in the past. And even though Ryan would be the minister getting sued he is in cahoots with these groups -- he applauded their previous win against him back in August 2020. Essentially we have a militant climate activist in government who doesn't give a damn about the economic stability of the country and will use other groups as proxies whenever he can't hold the line on his own. Stock up on rechargeable flashlights and a hand-cranked dynamo -- you're going to be needing them. The chances of PVR getting their lease are negligible as we are seeing with Menton's "90 days" expiring right now.
"Hopefully, the LTC will decide that the majority of the SARL claim is invalid as they did with the SEME one"
I don't think it can be invalid for the same reason as the SEME one. That one was dropped after the LTC agreed that it was double taxation because of the amount already levied against SEMS. Summarised in the RNS of Aug 6th 2021:
https://www.soundenergyplc.com/investors/regulatory-news-rns/rns-announcement/?rid=3941945
On the other hand, how would it look if Ryan played hardball on lots of sectoral targets and then granted the lease on Barryroe? There would be even more uproar. That's why there's no possibility he is going to sign it off. He needs to be either pushed out or sued for Barryroe to have a chance.
The existing government guidance for oil exploration (from some years back) says the government has a very supportive stance. Existing legislation allows current licenses to be progressed. Ryan cannot square that circle. He has forgotten the "supportive" part. His tactic is to bury his head in the sand. He has also strongly suggested (e.g. to the Seanad) that no oil discoveries even EXIST. Hopefully Menton is getting ready to sue, but even at that it's a long shot.
Menton said "within 90 days" back in April. He was quoted in the Business Post of April 24th, and 90 days since then is up next week. However, it would be silly to see that as a deadline as I don't see how Menton or anyone else can possibly know. Nor did he tell us how he can possibly know. So I'm inclined to treat it as blowing smoke up our a$$es. The only intriguing fact is that he picked this month to appoint an interim CEO, having decided it was not worth paying one for the past ten months. That, along with the fundraise, might be viewed as part of a demonstration that PVR is a going concern before the LU can be granted. But while it might be a necessary prerequisite we have nothing so far to suggest that it is a *sufficient* one. It's quite possible the LU will *never* be granted.
ericnat, I hope you are right. There's no doubt in my mind that if Morocco makes the tax charge "stick" that Sound Energy Plc will be liable for it -- they can't evade it just because SEMS is a dormant subsidiary. SOU's case, of course, is that there wasn't a transfer of ANY assets, not even intangible ones. The license relinquished by SEMS was a different one to the one obtained by SEME (Tendrara Lakhbir exploration permits vs. Greater Tendrara exploration permits). To my limited understanding, that always looked like a reasonable case. And even were it not, surely a company gets taxed on its *profits*. SOU made no sort of capital gain on these transactions and has had no production revenue. The best summary is probably still the RNS from June of last year:
https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/full?dockey=1323-14998057-7A0VEIVDU4UKCU6KCA011A5JRH
If the tax is legitimately due you have to wonder what sort of advice SOU were getting, and indeed why they needed to monkey around with the corporate structure. I noticed that SEMS is registered in Rabat while SEME is registered in London. Did the Moroccans get antsy because of a perception that SOU was trying to move assets to a different jurisdiction? I've no idea, just wondering out loud.
Let's face it, even if Ryan is told to get off his high horse it will be to permit the Shannon LNG terminal. It would take the same amount of time to build as Barryroe would take to get to production, but gas is probably a higher priority as oil can already be shipped in by tanker. Of course, if we had any strategic sense we'd develop not only Barryroe but the adjacent OPL/1 license area which potentially holds lots of gas. But it's not going to happen.
The Dáil goes on summer recess from tomorrow lunch time. Menton's 90 days expires at the end of next week. AGM would normally be the following week but no date was mentioned in the annual report. The appointment of a new CEO could mean something is astir ... but definitely not holding my breath.
Orbilune, the original well was a simple vertical well, not suitable for production. In any case they can't go back to it or anywhere else without the lease undertaking they are looking for, and additional permits besides.
Correct, it's no Moroccan carpet. The larger part of the SEME charge was dropped as it was agreed it would represent double taxation. This is just the residual part covering an alleged disposal of assets to Schlumberger. The remaining (much larger) SEMS tax bill is still in the offing.
More press mentions:
Ian Guider in the Business Post: "Barryroe might be Providence’s last chance to strike it lucky. The oil prospector has been in business in one guise or another for 40 years. Will Barryroe finally repay investor loyalty or has government appetite for fossil fuel prospecting passed?"
Manyana: "I love the way you read my posts so assiduously and then comment."
No you don't. If you did, you'd be defending them against my claims of idiocy. But you can't.
It's a discussion board -- if you don't want your posts to be read, don't post. Like I said a long time ago, I won't engage with your childish jibes, but it needs pointing out when you make outrageously misleading claims about PVR as you are wont to do. Over and out.
Manyana: "The license to drill was going to apply to a drill in 2023 so we still have time before then to get the approval."
It's not a license to drill. It's a petroleum lease undertaking. As per Linn, it would still take about a year to put together the Environmental Impact Assessment for a drill, and a separate permission to actually commence drilling would still be required. If PVR doesn't get their lease undertaking NOW, there will be no drilling next year.
Manyana: "Providence could wait until then and then seek funding from the EU for the drill and development."
SERIOUSLY, what colour is the sky on your planet? The EU doesn't hand out money for drilling oil wells. The very idea is laughable. The taxonomy for sustainable activities doesn't change this one iota. From the horses mouth (ec.europa.eu):
"The Taxonomy is not an instrument of EU energy policy. It is a tool to increase transparency in financial markets for private sector sustainable investments. It does not mandate investments and does not prevent any economic sector from receiving investments. Member States remain fully responsible and competent for deciding their own energy mix and for striking the appropriate balance – in terms of energy security, energy price stability and their commitment to decarbonisation and climate neutrality. The Taxonomy is an important element in the sustainable finance toolkit to help fund the Green Deal."
Sometimes I firkin' despair at the delusional outlooks on this board.
"Licence next week ..."
We have absolutely no reason to think there is a decision imminent except for an off-the-cuff remark from the chairman back in April, backed up by precisely ZERO justification. He has no influence over the powers-that-be, and may just have been told that there is 90 days worth of bureaucracy to go before a decision can be made. It's still up to Ryan to sign it off, and we can be pretty sure Ryan would prefer to shave his gonads with a rusty sickle than permit the extraction of oil in Irish waters.
Also, intuition, experience and common sense should tell you that something that was predicted for "within 90 days" which hasn't come to pass after 85 days is probably delayed or deferred or wasn't a good prediction to begin with. The idea that Menton could predict things outside his control with to-the-minute accuracy is highly improbable. I'd say there's a 50-50 chance that PVR will have to resort to law to try to budge Ryan. That said, I am not as confident about this assertion as I am about the fact that the EU doesn't dish out free money for drilling! You have to laugh, otherwise you'd cry ;-)