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I will be over in Ireland for the AGM. Anybody else going?
Who knows? The last well was successful and we had to wait nearly a month over due date for news. Anything is possible with COP. Not famous for their updates. New CEO hasn't changed that policy.
It would be easy to speak badly of Professor Green, but I won't. And it would be easy to get downbeat about this weeks results and the decisions taken regarding Oman etc. too. But I think that we are simply going to have to concentrate on improving cost base, reducing exposure to risk and continuing production levels of gas and oil. Last year we spent nearly $103 million on drilling and over-runs, impairment charges write-offs etc. Oman was a costly exercise with no result and Tunisia resulted in a sizeable oil find that could not be capitalised on because of problems. Two discoveries in Morocco bolstered our reserve base. All in all we had an expensive year. Lets say that we just concentrated on growing production this year and continued with our drilling program in Morocco, for which we have a ready market for Gas. And lets just say that we worked on getting government approval for a license extension for Tunisia and farmed out half of the expenses to bring that find into production. Additionally, we bolster Egyptian output with additional drill there too. No additional wildcat drilling. Work on bringing costs down and production up and we can turn things around. That's my take on things at the moment anyway.
Yes, but if you take impairments and write-downs out of the equation then we are actually not bad. Certainly when compared to market peers. And you are correct in saying that we need to clean up performance and balance sheets. With our new findings coming on-line in late June and a reduced spend on additional exploration we will trim losses. In addition to this if we can bring in even one or two of our current projects then we will be back on the pigs back. I am still hopeful that we will have good news from either of our current projects and that we get good news going forward. But yes I would concede that as it stands there is significant work to do and that the write-down were costly mistakes.
My gut reaction to the lack of news is that there is no news. As to why there is no news, no idea. But we are now beyond the 14-20 days estimated. If there were more buying activity them I would be hopeful of good news. But my gut feeling at this stage is that there is no news, either because of delays or simply because there are no positive results. On the other hand. If I were the new CEO of a company I would let the bad news from earlier on in the week run its course. I would release good news on a Monday or a Tuesday to give investors a good opportunity to buy and raise share price. So I am waiting anxiously to see what happens
Unfortunately
Just logged on to check Share price only to find Share price had risen by 95.29% up to 20.75 I wish
I bought an additional 155,000 shares this afternoon at an average of 10.80p each. I expect them to rise. Did you buy any today? Or have you any left from before?
Well done.
Thanks TFMONTY. Well said. Yes I have been open and up front about my opinions. I am not the kind of person who waits for an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon, I have my own opinions. Yes I still maintain that we will be bought out. Going by our net asset worth, our share price still sees us undervalued by a factor of nearly 5. Despite the fact that I have discussed the possibility of both a merger and also a takeover you conveniently neglect that point. And if I did decide to change my opinion I would certainly share it openly in advance. Your claims at selling at13.5 and making a modest profit are slightly undermined by your assertion that you could have sold at 26p. If you do the math you might be surprised to discover that 13.5p is less than 26p. Evidently your story makes little sense.
Well done TFMonty. An expert in selling at the top of the market and then telling everyone about it afterwards. Good for you.
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/circle-oil-taps-mitch-flegg-as-new-ceo-31265086.html Apparently our share price as of close yesterday was 49.6p per share according to Irish national newspapers. Our full year accounts must be very impressive........ I wonder how much research goes into editing articles nowadays?
Agreed Stockdale, I am a bit disappointed too. I suspect the market is slightly underwhelmed by the new appointment but I also think yesterday's strong dollar and fall in oil and gas prices were also contributers to some extent on COP share price today. As you said SP stayed basically in a bracket today and didn't fall too much. I am also slightly concerned about no news from LAM -1, unless there is some breakdown or they hit hard rock. I am still hopeful however. In terms of Mitch, I am going to give him six months grace before I write him off. I think that he should have made his mark and set out his stall by then. If not I will be over in Ireland again at the next AGM to vocally express my opinions. let's hope we have good figures on Monday. good luck.
We share the exact same interests then. Best of luck. Ram
But I too want to see Circle do well. I am only invested in COP since last December but I feel it has huge potential and undervalued asset quality. I also happen to think that the BOD (besides Mr Green) are a good team. All the best
Quoting the companies Act so arbitrarily to me is like quoting scripture to the pope. COP is not like Serica in terms of its board of management. Over the past year and a bit (thirteen and a half months) Cop had recruited two highly experienced executives with specialised experience in development, acquisitions and mergers. And you may point to Sericas performance over the past year as being entirely up to Mitch's performance but that is entirely untrue. Every single oil producers share price has seen the effects of the falling market prices. COP's share price fell to 8p a few weeks ago (1/4 of its share price roughly this time last year). Even the big producers saw falling share price over the period in question. So although I respect your comment and I do see some merit in what you are saying, I do not see Mitch as being entirely responsible for the fall in Sericas share value.
Interesting that your first post should be so negative when there is so much to be positive about......If you are frustrated then don't be. The management team is now very strong in terms of "takeover experience" .
What do you mean by "the charts since he took over as glorious leader of Serica are not very kind to him, looks like a lot of value destruction, rather than creation"? He was COO at Serica not CEO, he was never a glorious "leader" to start with. In fact much of the decision making was taken out of his hands.....part of the reason for his departure I suspect.
Mr. Mitchell Robert Flegg, also known as Mitch, has been the Chief Operating Officer of Serica Energy PLC since March 31, 2011. Mr. Flegg has been responsible for the successful drilling operations of Serica's wells over the past 5 years and for the field developments at Kambuna and Columbus. He joined Serica in 2006 and has, since then, been responsible for the successful execution of Serica's drilling programme both as Operator and non-Operator, which included 17 wells drilled in locations as diverse as offshore Indonesia, offshore Vietnam, the North Sea, the East Irish Sea and the Atlantic off the west coast of Ireland, and has represented Serica in the Company's joint venture interests. As Chief Operating Officer, he is responsible for the current seismic acquisition programme offshore Namibia, the development of the Columbus field in the North Sea, the numerous other interests in the UK and west of Ireland which Serica operates and the overall operational management of the Company's assets. Mr. Flegg has 31 years operational experience in the oil industry. He started his career in 1981, gaining field experience with Schlumberger and Flopetrol. In 1992 he joined Enterprise Oil, subsequently becoming responsible for drilling related operations for wells drilled in UK, Australia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ireland, Romania and Bulgaria. Following the acquisition of Enterprise Oil by Shell in 2002 he worked on the global implementation of new technology in well engineering before moving into asset management. With Serica, as well as managing Serica's drilling programme, he has been responsible for the development of both the Kambuna field in Indonesia and the Columbus field in the North Sea. He has a wealth of operating experience to the Serica Board. Mr. Flegg serves a a Director of the Serica Holdings UK Limited. He has been an Executive Director of Serica Energy PLC since September 5, 2012.
Actually, in terms of my M&A theory, the appointment of a new CEO only casts doubt on the possibility of a merger. An aquisition is still a high probability.