Member Info for ramerci73

Yes, I have to say that after AGM I do feel quite positive going forward. Mitch and Susan both appear very capable and the other board members are confident and typically business minded. There appears to be a good cohesion about the purpose of the board now

Yes. Director share purchases were mentioned and it was noted that Mitch has already started to buy shares in the company. The way it was addressed led me to the beleif that other managers would be buying shares too. That was not explicitly stated but implied. It was mentioned in the same way directors discussion on chat forum's was mentioned I. e there are certain things directors cannot legally do.

I'm tired so I will keep this short. I didn't get a feel for who the mjors were but one of them was middle Eastern, one Asian and the other two were European. I British, one I don't know. Back to the facts......the reason it took 47 days for news on LAM-1 was because drill took 19 days as expected, capping and testing which is pretty involved takes 15 days roughly to establish flow rates, and finally the partner company has to view the information before it is published to the shareholders. In fact the legalities of information sharing were mentioned on several occasions. Mitch was asked outright if we are likely to be taken over by a buy-in partner and he strongly denounced the idea. Susan Prior spoke a few times and has been tasked with reducing operation and capex costs without compromising exploration possibilities. We can now drill for roughly half the cost as same time last year because of the way the market has been responding to oil/gas price drops. Similarly field operations has reduced in costs. Susan and the team are also securing new contracts for gas sales in Morocco and the exploration plan there seems prudent and sound. Last year and the year before cost us dearly in terms of write-offs and other charges. A mistake not likely to be repeated. The expenditure model now basically means that we will seek opportunities that can be shared with drilling partners. Exposure to projects like Oman will not be repeated. On the subject of reestablishing investor relations and development of investor rapid information structure, the current website is going to see changes. Additionally there will be far more press/ interview exposure by management to highlight our prospects and successes. Management are painfully aware of the shortfall in this area and have agreed to address it on an ongoing basis. In six months we should see a stark contrast in the way news is shared with the stakeholders. One thing that will not change though is the legal obligations of management not to leak sensitive news on forums such as this. All salient news will be delivered through agreed channels in a legal and appropriate manner. Exploration will not stop during the currentrr cost analysis, however projects will be assessed much more carefully to establish if the risk/reward ratio is favourable to our operations model. We will seek projects and partners and projects that suit our financial requisites. We will now only operate in three main areas. Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. Or rather we will concentrate on three areas where we have good working relationships. We left Oman with no liabilities and on good working terms. Our light oil discovery is very significant and large. We expect news on the permit in just over a month. Then we will decide in a farm partner of which there are many possibilities. There are one or two other details that I noted but I don't think they are really relavent at the moment. All in all I feel positive now.

I was at the AGM today, along with about 20 other shareholders, mainly domestic however there were four corporate investors there too and a guy from an oilers magazine who basically asked all of the questions I had written down. Also one old guy who was concerned about the stability of the countries Circle operates in and a young Irish investor who was concerned about the PR and views expressed on forums such as this. In fact he said that from a PR perspective, Circle oil were very poor. He also asked about the delay in information coming from LAM-1 well and about when next project results are due. All questions were answered reasonable well. The BOD appear to be fairly proficient and Mitch appears to know his onions. I will fill you in on how things went later after I catch this plane, but for now I am in a rush. All in all I was happy with the resolutions passed and voted on them all. I was also happy with the new direction and also news and explanations of passed performance and about proposed changes to information sharing, drilling projects, project sharing, production and financing going forward. I think that the next year will literally be one of transformation. The Tunisia oil find appears to be very sizeable, even "world-class" and should provide a considerable boost to production when we get permits and a partner (already interested partners contacting us to see what we want to do). There are also some other very promising indicators in the same permit which point to additional discoveries too. The areas in Egypt we operate in are essentially in military zones and are very hard to get to and very well protected. Our interests in Tunisia are also secure enough. Morocco is a hidden Gem where we are achieving good prices for gas and where we wish to expand. The return on gas is not as lucrative as oil obviously because of the comparative energy densities and portability profile of the different hydrocarbon products, but gas is easier and cheaper to drill for and there is a ready market for gas in Morocco. O.K. that's it for now.....talk later with more information. Ram

I am not reading too much into big buys at the moment. Significantly yesterday's buy trade by CEO rules out merger any time soon. However I think that it will be the start of a buying process by management to show faith in the companies prospects. 10K euro is beeswax really, so a contentious investment policy by senior staff.

Aren't we expecting some of the new findings to actually come into viable production soon. Anybody have a date for when that was due to happen? I thought it was expected at the end of June. If that happens then we will see a re-rating on Davy's. That should be good for share price. I do have one slight question about today's RNS. It's timing, release on a Friday, is not what I expected. Normally good news is released in the earlier part of the week..... Perhaps there is additional information next week too. Just a thought.

Whatever I learn I will share openly with the board.

Yes. I am going to attend the AGM. I have a list of questions and that is one of them. I also intend to highlight the PR situation. I think the company is lacking in terms of public relations and information feed. Thanks, Ramerci

I am delighted for all the shareholders who remained positive. This is good news especially since a conservative CEO immediately initiated the second well.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/108188/circle-oil-set-for-better-focus-and-capital-discipline-under-new-management-broker-says-108188.html Hopefully this approach will make us even more profitable, while not totally taking us out of the exploration picture

There is 70 million on the balance sheet due to write off and impairment charges. That was mainly due to Oman where we are no longer involved. Once you accept that Oman was a mistake and read past that point our figures for revenue were only down about 9%. When you compare that to peer exploration companies we actually did o.k. mainly due to stability of gas prices achieved. So projecting on into next year with capex reduced and increased production (gas coming online late June early July) we should see a far more robust balance sheet. And yes deflated oil and gas prices have reduced share price. First because they affect profitability, and secondly because they reduce investor's incentive to invest in the sector.

I think you must find it difficult to get out of bed TFMonty, what with all the positivity that life has to offer. I am happy that you are out of this share at the moment. I couldn't bear to think what you would be like if it suddenly shot up in price. You are perhaps the most negative person I have ever come across. Of course it is in your interest to talk down a share that you are not invested in, that goes without saying. I remain positive. I do hope that there is some good news regarding LAM-1 very soon. I also remain upbeat about other prospects too. If share price shoots up beyond what you can afford, then I must admit I will be happy. I will certainly be happy for all of the investors who remain positive and loyal. But, personally I find you are a little repulsive, more than a little arrogant and certainly quite rude. I am a great believer in the English saying, "it is nice to be nice". But in your case I make an exception. I think that you are a cancer on this discussion board. Sure, everybody is entitled to a viewpoint. But in light of the fact that you are no longer invested in this share (as you confirmed in an earlier post), it is blatantly obvious that you skulk around here with your negative commentary, trying to talk down the share at every opportunity. You are what we call in Germany "Aasfresser" which conveniently translates to bottom-feeder. I assure you it is not an endearing term, however it suits to describe you. Having said all of that, I hope you have a wonderful day. Tally-ho old boy, Ramerci

Well I don't know for certain either obviously. However it is fairly typical for this type of thing to happen. L'Oreal group famously buy out other smaller pharma companies with a view to capitalising on current takeovers. It is one way to get a good deal without raising SP of the target businesses too high. But in the case of Dragon Oil and ENOC, at the very least it shows that there is a vibrant market out there for M&A.

And why do you assume that any merger would be shelved? When you aquire a company, you aquire their interests and business also.

Thanks for sharing that information with us elland.

http://www.independent.ie/business/world/activist-hedge-fund-buys-circle-oil-stake-31300628.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-surprising-market-response-to-activist-hedge-funds-1429743683

Think Western coal. Think BKIR. Think PepsiCo. All of these companies have recently benefited from hedge-fund investments. Think of it this way. Why would a hedge fund invest in a company if it only saw a negative prospect for its investment. And why would a hedge fund invest in a company (this size) only to negate their own base share value by shorting? No, at this level of investment hedge funds are actually a positive investment and a positive endorsement of COP as an investment prospect. Agreed with bigger companies shorting can become a problem though.

Basically a new investor. A hedge fund with a history of transforming it's investments has taken a 6% stake in circle oil.

https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDMQqQIwAmoVChMIgtuPx4SRxgIVwiDbCh3SaQA5&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.ie%2Fbusiness%2Fworld%2Factivist-hedge-fund-buys-circle-oil-stake-31300628.html&ei=1Wt-VcKcBMLB7AbS04HIAw&usg=AFQjCNF-6VfdthAdL2nHBtk6K867xTS1fQ&sig2=_5VJOesK6K8oQ6fTihidJg