Member Info for romaron

What is ironic is that what finally pushed Petrofac into administration was last week’s decision by Dutch grid operator TenneT to terminate a major offshore wind contract. Bit of a tricky one for Ed to comment on. He doesn't want to accept the blame that EPL and his ideology is the cause but on the other hand he can't say that countries are abandoning wind generation projects. Which one does he choose as they're both confirmation of his incompetence.

Still, nothing that a bit of arm waving in a skew-whiff safety helmet can't salvage. I'm sure he's up to the challenge as he's tough enough but there is a bit of scepticism North of the border https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCKZFEuRfK0

*Because of past ties we must be kicking tyres around PFC.

Https://x.com/7Kiwi/status/1982422865124421996

The co-founder of Greenpeace calls wind & solar parasite.

I've changed my mind. They have pulled off a bit of a coup. It should on paper be damaging but by leaking it bit by bit they took all the impact away. Aided by a busy weekend of news MSM has relegated the story to basically a non-story. Who but us pay attention to this kind of thing. I think all credit should go to Labour and DESNZ's communication and PR people. Releasing the finished report late on a Friday is classic.

It wasn't really a story because everything had already been said/leaked and diluted the 'exclusive' aspect. It does though illustrate the contempt they have for workers, industry and the voters. Machiavelli would have approved. Never underestimate Ed!

They can now say they listened to the concerns of workers and industry. Ed isn't going anywhere.

Has been ordered to return his Military Medals. But he can keep the "Jim fixed it for me" badge.

Excellent. It also explains how the conversation has livened up recently. This report was sent to the printers on 15 October for release on 24th (yesterday). That means many lobbyists have had earlier access and started planning their actions. It also explains the silence from the climate activists. Many thanks to Dumbly as this is the kind of thing that makes logging into this board's chat so valuable.

Labour appears to have lost Wales. Do they want to lose Scotland too? And please don't take this the wrong way but the Muslim community has shown little interest (if you ignore Sadiq Khan) to climate change and Labour are very cognisant of how many seats they effectively control.

The likes of Tessa Khan, Greta Thunberg and grifters like Dale Vince represent just a small but noisy group of supporters. Can anybody take Zack Polanski or Ed Davey as seriously representative.

Thanks again Dumbly. You've just put another piece into the jigsaw.

I don't know about the rest of you but I do quite like EV's although they make no economic sense for me. It worries me that they are very successful in California and China. Even in Albania where I holidayed last year BUT.

Just as there is a possibility that there will be a glut of windmills for a variety of reasons (end of subsidies, economic truths, cost of living, broken promises etc.) I think China will be in this group with a surplus of EV capacity. The reason I say this is because of the excellent article by Maurice Cousins (I am in contact with him) where he states this:

"First, the Law of Conservation of Energy: energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transformed from one form to another. What matters is how efficiently those transformations occur.

Second, the Law of Entropy: every transformation leads to loss — useful energy degrades into heat and disorder. The potential for doing useful work steadily diminishes along every conversion chain."

China effectively has NO oil (I know it has some but this is a simple argument) so all the oil it requires comes via 2 places with pinch points. The Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca. This explains why China is so aggressively claiming every island in the area as 80% of its oil comes from this direction. So China has several reasons to protect its sea lanes and also reduce oil dependency.

So what they've done is simple. EV's powered by coal. They are potentially the biggest losers in what is currently happening and actually Trump is ahead of the curve. The UK is too timid and reliant on China to make a stand. Ed Miliband is effectively China's "useful idiot".

It does also play into the importance of having a base in Malaysia. I think AB thinks a little further ahead than the 3 month Brent future!

"10,000 new green plumbers will arrive in 5 years but can't say they'll come in the morning or afternoon because they've got another job on in Croydon."

He was mentioned on Have I Got News for You tonight. He has become a laughing stock and in one of their questions he was the odd one out because he has succeeded in changing a name. Plumbers are to be renamed "clean energy workers". It marks a new low for him, DESNZ and Labour. Do they do it on purpose. Is ridicule now confirmation that people are listening?

We know there is a long lead time to Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT) and some of this impacts the UK because ours are ageing and Mad Ed was intending us to rely on renewables and Interconnectors and it looks as though we are up the proverbial and have lost our paddle. It shows in the Siemen figures that their CCGT is powering ahead whilst the renewables are losing money. Orsted are also struggling with wind. The shortage of CCGTs is partly explained by the companies making decisions at board level encouraged by Govts, ESG and religious zealotry of activists. Economics and science were treated cavalierly and they are now having a reality shock.

A side-effect of this assisted by the tax punishment of EPL stopped drilling in the NS in its tracks. The gravy train of subsidies has come to a shuddering halt as it becomes obvious that renewables just do not have the advantages of fossil fuels https://thecritic.co.uk/it-is-time-the-uk-got-real-about-energy/

That means there is probably a shortage of the necessary plant etc. to return to drilling in the NS. The value of EnQuest Producer has just shot up. I expect Bressay to be jump started and a return of Equinor as a partner. AB has kept us out of the limelight but that cannot last much longer. I imagine there are a lot of battle plans and options prepared for ALL O&G companies in the NS. We have some unique assets that will appeal to different suitors and them to us. It is all to play for and we have a good hand.

If you really want to fry your brain try reading these that landed in my email today:

https://watt-logic.com/2025/10/24/ghosts-on-the-grid-vars/ and https://watt-logic.com/2025/10/24/location-location-location-managing-voltage-in-weak-grids/

I am an unabashed fan of Kathryn Porter and rate her up there with Dieter Helm. They both have huge brains and knowledge. I understand a small fraction of what they say and both could destroy Miliband in a few minutes so are unlikely to ever be in the same room with him.

This is O/T but you might find this interesting too https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gary-stevensons-trading-game-fact-fiction-lee-oliver-oslbe/?trackingId=tRQTyX3mRfC7%2BgXR6tcYtQ%3D%3D

Lee is an old friend of mine and I went to his wedding in the 80's. I also know a few of the characters he mentions. FX trading is very similar to what energy traders do. Most could not write or explain as well as Christian Schutte but all could sell dodgy Hi-fi or oranges on Walthamstow Market. Many could be recognised by their scraped knuckles that they dragged along the ground.

Another good find "A Treasury spokesperson said: “The EPL will end by March 31, 2030, at the latest. We’re working with the sector and others to decide how the tax system should deal with unusually high prices once the levy ends, so businesses have certainty and still pay a fair share when there is a price shock.”

So basically making EPL a 'Windfall Tax' only when there is a windfall. It is ridiculous that they can run a 'Levy' parallel with a non-existent windfall tax. Only politicians can be so duplicitous. It needs to end NOW!

What many forget M is that EnQuest was formed from the merger of Petrofac and Lundin Petroleum O&G assets. It would not surprise me in the slightest if we weren't investigating the remaining assets of Petrofac and there is little doubt that AB's experience and knowledge has been called upon.

"Keir Starmer prepares to miss key green target in effort to keep energy bills down" that is a headline believe it or not in the Guardian!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/22/keir-starmer-green-pledge-2030-energy-bills

Of course it finishes with - "A government spokesperson said: “The government is fully committed to delivering clean power by 2030 because it is how we deliver a system that can bring down bills for consumers.”"

I prefer the Dieter Helm comment in the article "Miliband was “deluded” if he thought he could bring down energy bills by pushing for clean power by 2030. “The reality is that net zero by 2030 is expensive and that by dashing flat-out towards it, the result will be even higher costs. The price is not coming down; it is going up.”"

Ed is handcuffed in the water tank and time is running out. Can he do it this time?

A report from the Tony Blair Institute. Prioritise cheap over clean energy. "Remove some carbon taxes from gas. Renewables were cheaper than fossil when the Russian invasion happened. That is no longer true. Hard hitting and effectively saying that Ed needs to read the report. Also intimations about AR7 being capped." Thanks Frac.

One other thing. It looks like Starmer is going to the COP 30 which is 10-21 November but the leaders summit is 6-7 November. I'm sure there is some theatre involved here and Labour will spin this somehow. At the minimum a deal has been done between Miliband, Starmer, Treasury. Eventually you run out of excuses.

And if Gareth Penny, Jonathan Copus and AB recommend it then the NED's can stop it? Er, I don't think so. Technically yes but at the same time the 3 Executives will have already asked the questions that the NEDs could propose. All 3 are well versed in how a board operates and its limitations. I'll concede that a hiatus at the moment is across practically EVERY deal in the North Sea whilst parties await a breakthrough in negotiations within and without Government. Throw in demands for secrecy and it is no wonder we're all getting impatient.

Now this is something you and Stevo can probably agree on. Miliband could teach Houdini a few tricks. One of his favourites is to avoid interviewers who understand renewables and the pricing mechanisms that will surely trip him up eventually. He'll be interviewed by someone who understands exactly how these numbers stack up and are calculated. At the moment he makes claims that religions have been making for centuries - miracles and a place called heaven. We cannot blame interviewers as few are expert enough to challenge him. I'd like to see Sir Dieter Helm or Kathryn Porter in a one-on-one with him.

Hi Stevo - it doesn’t surprise me that you have remco and audit positions on boards. That comes over quite clearly. What you don’t have is groundbreaking, cutting-edge risk taking as a core skill because you would not have retired from an accountancy firm as a partner. They don’t encourage bungee-jumping.

I don’t think you’ve grasped what kind of company EnQuest is. It is basically a private company, and they do things differently. I’m not talking numbers of shares but pointing out that AB is in a strong enough position to call the tune. I suspect Gareth Penny is of a similar mindset, and they must clash at times – I’d say that is a good thing.

When Ineos bought Innovene from BP in 2005 they surprised bigger industry buyers and a management IPO by clinching the deal. Apart from BP’s CFO and his M&A team only Lord Brown knew a private deal was on the cards (p.102 Alchemist). Ineos have a board too and I suspect there was a paucity of insiders on their side too. That kinda blows a hole in your suggestion that to successfully close a deal you need the compliance officer and HR to give a seal of approval and be included.

EnQuest have the necessary skills and key personnel.

Whilst remco and audit are important a lot of their work is post-deal. Interestingly Ineos couldn't access accounts and do due diligence on Innovene because of the demand for secrecy from BP because of the parallel running management buy-out. Luckily there were US bidders too and it meant that a lot of information about Innovene was in the public domain.

Auson - this is an EnQuest board. It makes reading it easier if you ask the question on the relevant board.

You're not getting away with that Stevo. Stick with torturing past numbers and stop trying to read minds and putting in snide suggestions. If you've ever achieved seniority in a company you will come across situations whereby other executives are kept out of preliminary discussions and even ongoing discussions that may lead nowhere. You could even include Ukraine peace talks in this. Do you think that Trump tells Starmer everything?

You obviously don't read my posts otherwise you would have noted the response from IR regarding the said NED buying "What you can derive from Mike Borrell's purchase is that we are not in a closed period (due to results, for example) and that Mr Borrell is not on any insider list relating to M&A activity, which would preclude him from dealing in EnQuest shares."

I was a Director of a company where I never knew what the strategic plans of the CEO and Chairmen were. I had NO idea of ongoing chats and approaches. I had my role and got on with the day job. IR put in the response "Mr Borrell is not on any insider list relating to M&A activity, which would preclude him from dealing in EnQuest shares." This would also include the tea lady who might know more anyway.

It is clear to all with a modicum of experience that ALL deals in the North Sea of any consequence are progressing BUT they may be cratered by decisions taken from the consultation or the budget (among many other world/UK events). I would imagine that a lot of deals will be announced or fresh approaches made post budget. I suspect that AB is still working 24/7 along with Jonathan Copus on deals. Gareth Penny is the only other person who will definitely be included. That is a team of 3. Possibly Craig has no idea but is close and will have his own suspicions. There will be NDAs and just common sense radio silence. "Too many cooks" only apply to bulletin boards.

EnQuest is too interesting to other companies to not be involved. We may be asset rich cash poor but you seem to have a poor opinion of our assets. I don't.