Member Info for romaron

Something is afoot then today might have been the last chance to get aboard. There isn't much of a free float imo and EnQuest suffered for years from NO dividend, the 3 D's and hostile Government ideology. Institutions don't like the sector or a punt so if something happens in the next few weeks that make it irresistible then they'll have to pay up and the price will rocket. This stock doesn't have the depth and liquidity of a BP or the AIM punters that follow other O&G companies around. It always has been a quality company with professional management. I'm expecting the patience of LTH's to be rewarded.

Also in Daily Telegraph - extracts

"Sir Tony Blair has urged Ed Miliband to abandon his crackdown on North Sea oil to deliver a £165bn boost to the British economy.

In a damning new report, the former prime minister’s think tank says a tax increase and licensing ban imposed by Labour are destroying jobs and making Britain less secure – while doing little to tackle climate change.

Scrapping both policies would reduce the need for foreign imports and unlock billions of extra barrels of oil and gas worth £165bn to the economy, the research argues.

It also warns that Mr Miliband’s aggressive net zero push is “not fit for purpose” and risks driving up household bills without an urgent reset.

With Sir Keir Starmer’s future in doubt, the timing of the former PM’s latest broadside will also be seen as a blow to Mr Miliband when he is being touted as a potential successor or kingmaker in any upcoming leadership contest.

The intervention marks the third time in less than a year that Sir Tony – who personally approved the report – has attacked the Government’s energy plans, which he has previously warned are “doomed to fail”.

“In a country responsible for less than one per cent of global emissions, that is not climate leadership – it is climate theatre.”

Hi KO - it is good that we are developing SEA and maybe that is a market EnQuest should concentrate on and encourage Asian investment. I'm being selfish because many of the arguments we use for EnQuest's future apply to them as well in energy terms and of course they would benefit along with us if we are given early access to using out tax credits in the UK. It seems rich Asians are happy to buy up Mayfair and Belgravia but not so much one of the last jewels in our declining industrial base.

Be nice to see a few Asian investors among the Majors shareholders then I'd be convinced. It does give us another string to our bow and diversification from the NS. Could be a big influence down the road and likely to grow.

There has been a big intervention by Jim Ratcliffe of Ineos and a statement from him that Britain has been "colonised by immigrants". Sides are immediately taken and Starmer attacks and demands an apology. His voting base comes first - or what he perceives is his base but it his Ratcliffe who claims the high ground this time by calling on the politicians to "show some courage" by tackling immigration, welfare dependence and the weak economy which he said was “costing too much money”.

It'll be interesting to see the Trade Union reactions. Ideology or jobs - it really is that simple.

So we will continue to buy at the "market price" from overseas and in exchange we will sacrifice jobs and revenue whilst increasing emissions.

I think the public have worked this out so it may not be repeated.

Are the Jocks finally enraged? A pummelling at Murrayfield on Saturday should get a reaction or will they meekly accept English pre-eminence as they have in energy generation.

Https://www.agcc.co.uk/news-article/turn-us-on-chamber-sends-cheeky-valentines-card-to-mps-urging-politicians-to-back-the-north-sea

You can read the card in full by clicking the link at the end. Says it all really.

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vna4AAC1bdE

I’ve possibly been hallucinating but recent events are (I believe) the equivalent of the cavalry arriving. Starmer is gone imo. Putting a compliance officer in the role of CEO was never going to work. I think his replacement would likely be Burnham/Rayner and I am happy with that and so shoul the O&G industry – in fact all industry.

It always boils down to votes. There are far more votes in saving jobs and industry. Climate activists are loud, organised – but numerically small. Workers who lose jobs or face high bills don’t forgive abstractions; Miliband would push back but Burnham is no Starmer pushover. Burnham has working class and regional support + visible job protection.

Burnham understands this viscerally. Rayner understands it instinctively. Neither would gamble Red Wall seats, industrial regions or Union backing.

Voters aren’t stupid and recognise hypocrisy eventually: emissions exported, jobs gone. The renewables policy is no longer trusted by the public however much Ed waves his arms around and spouts numbers that few understand. Miliband will resist change. Burnham will overrule him and Rayner will side with the workers. That is how I hope it pans out.

There is a possibility that Starmer clings on and ditches or amends the timing of Net Zero. I don’t see it personally. He’s scared of Ed and blissfully unaware of how the working class think whilst he continually repeats – “I’m working class. My dad was a toolmaker” is easier to say than to be.

Burnham is pragmatic and big Ang is popular. They’re far less a threat to the economy and National security than Starmer/Miliband. If you want an example of Starmer's incompetence and poor timing just look at the forthcoming Gorton by-election. He forced Burnham outside allowing him to p*ss into the tent and then sets the scene for Burnham to return to Westminster like Mary Poppins arriving at Cherry Tree Lane.

Maurice Cousins of GWPF -

"Conservatives like @HarrietCross_MP need to stop talking about the so-called “energy transition”. The term is ideological, not descriptive. It is the language of liberal progressivism and rests on the false assumption that energy systems undergo smooth, linear replacement.

Green lobbyists love this framing because it quietly embeds the idea that oil and gas are temporary and dispensable. But their ultimate political objective is the destruction of the UK's oil and gas sector.

The real history of energy is additive, not transitional. Energy systems expand. They do not replace one another. As Daniel Yergin and Vaclav Smil have shown, new energy sources are layered on top of existing ones as demand grows. Coal did not displace wood, oil did not displace coal, and gas did not displace oil. With limited exceptions such as traditional biomass linked to development and urbanisation, no major energy source has declined globally in absolute terms as a result of substitution.

Terms like “clean power” and “renewables” serve the same ideological purpose. They are clever rhetorical devices designed to obscure physical reality and shut down debate. The consequence is delusional policy, higher energy costs, deindustrialisation and a steady erosion of hard power in a new era of great power competition."

It is clear that he [Sandher] is talking to a target audience who already believe or are credulous enough to think that terms like "the science is settled" or "the debate is over" gives them a moral authority. I imagine it is more that he is an opportunist and hoping to catch the eye of whoever replaces Starmer and is looking for team members. He is a young man in a hurry and happy to fill a seat at these interminable chat shows. They might pay his travel expenses but little else so they are almost always self-promotion. "X" is not really for someone of his age imo and actually shows his ignorance of social media but he is appearing on these settees and the bar to get on them is remarkably low. He is putting a lot of effort into it and I'd suggest that his pretty dismal numbers on "X" are made up of people who react or are keyboard warriors. He is producing clickbait so ignore him.

It did make me look at Harriet Cross's numbers too and they are also poor, sadly. More to the point is that people and definitely younger people don't even watch these programmes. However, it might impress some older members of their parties who don't really understand this new-fangled internetty thing. Who are they trying to reach is more the question? At least Harriet has a genuine interest in that it affects her constituents directly.

"Ed Miliband, Rayner and the “soft Left” are circling, ready to pounce, prepared to claim that only a drastic shift towards socialism can expunge the failings of New Labour. As to Starmer, he is finished, a lame duck PM destroyed by the broken system that accidentally propelled him to power."

This is one commentator's view. I'm sure Ed is plotting but I also feel he could be a liability. He is supposed to be a personal friend of Starmer but his ambition doesn't allow for normal human behaviour to get in his way, ask his brother. I think we'll see more revelations in the next few days. Pointless speculating but getting rid of Starmer can't harm the O&G industry anymore than he [Starmer] has already allowed on his watch. I don't think they have the Unions on their side for one. I'm hoping that Sharon Graham pulls back from the cliff edge, drops the idealism and goes back to jobs, pay and conditions. One benefit might be the investigation of the lazy tropes and slogans that have been the main policies of Labour the past 18 months. There will now be real opposition. Labour have proved that this administration cannot govern. Talk about "may you live in interesting times".

"OVO Energy is one of the weakest businesses I’ve looked at in a while. It’s accounts make for painful reading and we know it is not meeting Ofgem capital requirements. It should focus its efforts on strengthening its balance sheet rather than issuing “climate transition plans” unless the climate in question is its borrowing environment. But as one of the largest suppliers in the market, more than double the size of Bulb which caused so much disruption when it failed, this all matters.

Since Octopus is also in breach of its capital requirements, it is untenable that it could be a Supplier of Last Resort for OVO as this would add some £460 million to its capital shortfall – only Centrica would have the balance sheet for this. Perhaps it would have the appetite, but perhaps not. In Centrica’s shoes I may shy away from being the backstop for the energy market, used only when all else fails. Maybe Centrica should sit back and watch the fall out, mopping up when the Government finally decides to get serious about energy supplier robustness, and the need to properly ringfence customer assets."

Full story https://watt-logic.com/2026/02/04/ovo-energy-looking-shaky/

Only mentioning this because Dale Vince (Ecotricity) seems to be panicking first and distancing himself from the more outrageous [climate and renewable] claims. We then have Ed Miliband who will move centre-stage as a potential king (or queen) maker as Starmer's future looks shaky. One thing we can be sure of - whatever Starmer choses to do it will be the wrong decision. Ed and Mandelson weren't friends so he may make a move. It won't be as leader because even he recognises that that ship has sailed but his passion and drive for immortality as the UK's saviour will continue unabated. More fun & games heading our way.

Well it was the first meeting. Induction day and all that. But it did send me to the Board and its make up. My scepticism didn't let me down.

Unite union - although they are ambivalent riding both climate/NZ activism and the jobs horse at the same time

Neil McCulloch - who has never rocked a boat in his life to my knowledge but nice to know Norway is represented

RMT - the divers have representation but few job prospects

What a waste of time. Pure window-dressing and selective communiqués.

From the Report: "He said that we, “picked an interesting week to come to Aberdeen, with the UK Autumn

Budget around the corner, COP30 about to start, and with the announcement of

Petrofac – one of the leading service providers in the sector — going into administration.”

So although the Report was released on 28 January much of the content is older although encouragingly the Louise Gilmour of GMB quote is fresh. So Steve Bowyer was in his last days because Petrofac was announced on the 27 October and COP and the Budget were in November.

I'm afraid KO the reason the Major Shareholders has been updated was because they were updating the General Manager, North Sea post. I imagine that Aberforth and Cobas were kept in touch. I always assumed that head of North Sea was an important role. Either that or Retail Investors are unimportant and only need buttering up before a rights issue?

I guess they don't want to get into a dialogue over whether SB jumped, had his hand in the till, or wasn't required due to the imminent announcement of a deal?

No date here but I'm pretty sure it's fresh https://thejobsfoundation.com/story/announcing-the-launch-of-our-latest-report-cliff-edge/

I'm out most of day so will read up later. Nice pictures of Craig and Steve Bowyer. I can't remember seeing this before either from the report:

“Our North Sea is in decline — let’s protect it during the

transition and optimise our use of the resources that are left.

We should scrap the windfall tax and protect the industry and

its workers – we need to avoid the destruction of the industry,

or we will see a repeat of what happened to our coalminers.”

Dale Vince, green entrepreneur, environmentalist and Labour Party donor

I realise that M. I posted it more for UK based investors who should be able to get it. The Labour guy just repeated the cliches and inaccurate numbers. Helm finished with (21:30) "it is fantasy to keep trotting out numbers. Competitive differences are what really matter". Costs matter and that is where industry goes. He said we have been hemorrhaging industries in the last 12 months.

Still never mind; Keir will have helped China to send us more coal produced goods.

Hi M, it is easy to find on BBC iplayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002qk1l/politics-live-renewable-energy

Dieter Helm rebuffed the claims of the Green advocate and the Labour MP who just regurgitated the Miliband mantra. He didn't mess around and coldly demolished the claims. I wish he had pulled up the Green advocate who said "the science is settled". How can the future ever be "settled"?

Thought that'd get your attention. "The Royal Navy has been tracking a “suspicious” Russian ship that spent 14 hours stopped over undersea data cables in the Bristol Channel, The Telegraph can disclose. The cargo ship Sinegorsk sailed into the Bristol Channel on Tuesday night and appeared to have anchored about two miles off Minehead, on the north coast of Somerset."

I can still remember my holiday at Butlin's, Minehead aged 17. Then the biggest risk was 'scrumpy cider' or an irate parent catching you with their daughter in flagrante. I'm not sure how we can deter Russia in the future with just wind and solar. Perhaps they'll play fair and not attack at night?

“Gold is money. Everything else is credit” is a famous 1912 quote by financier J.P. Morgan - I'd say oil runs gold a close second. We've yet to see the real climb in oil and we're gonna need gas for a long while to heat our homes and for other products. Gord knows what the data centres will run on if they ever get built? Meanwhile Ed is trying to destroy extracting what we have left in the North Sea. Perhaps in his maniacal way he wants to make a bigger impact than his hero Gordon Brown who sold half our gold reserves at $275 an ounce and a 20 year low. Delightfully named as "Brown's Bottom".

We should start a competition to choose another name for Net Zero.

I have a small position with City Index where I have bought some March EnQuest. I look at it most days and the usual trend is a downward drift with a little uplift at close of play (16:34). So after a good start to January in the last days it has softened. LTHs are always gonna suffer with this market.

WITHOUT any news from EnQuest Towers this is the algo taking advantage of the 3D's in a market and [ENQ] is ignored by most funds and retail investors. Even those who like a punt have ignored EnQuest. It doesn't have the swings of RKH or JOG and even SQZ and HBR are more exciting.

I'm slightly jealous of the day traders who skim halfpennies but it requires icy discipline and constant attention which I don't possess. Algos are a form of AI and human nature is integral and predictable most of the time. We all know how google seems to anticipate our next search. The algos have been finessed further by the likes of AI, TikTok et al. We cannot compete but they only work until they don't. That is why there is the end of day uplift as they don't want a position to run overnight. They were right today with the uplift of oil for whatever reason. Storm, Iran or something else? I don't really care.

I am not really alarmed because this is because there has been no substantial deal by EnQuest and I wonder if AB regrets ever mentioning a "transformational deal". He is used to dealing in years whilst I struggle with weeks and months. BUT nothing has really changed. The political scenario is still chaotic and anti O&G in the UK but cracks are appearing among the climate campaigners.

I don't feel I have the wrong position but I did BUY too early. The situation has changed. DESNZ has been leading the voters and bill payers with a mixture of promises, half-truths and lies. I think the penny has finally dropped and their position is indefensible. A transition is not close one source of energy and throw cash at a replacement. AND of course our tax losses were created when really we should have gone bust. There is a period of consistent higher returns heading our way. The algos cannot predict the future. History can to an extent and our time is coming. I cannot imagine that AB and his team are idling away. They have a lot of dry ammo and we are a coiled spring.

Https://x.com/ChayasClan/status/2015739864562434533

Worrying - the full story https://watt-logic.com/2026/01/27/octopus-and-kraken-swim-in-murky-waters12245/

Many here recognise the wrong signals and language. Kathryn Porter is a well respected and expert in the field of energy. David Turver of Eigen Values has also been a sceptic of Octopus. I hope they combine forces here.