RE: Shareholder VALUE LOSS16 Nov 2020 20:08
"And that $500 million found lots of oil!!"..............
Well yes, around $300 miilion was spent on Sea Lion exploration and appraisal and another $ 200 million was spent on the Red Eric disastrous drilling project, the outcome of which has been written off as a asset impairment inclucing Isobel. And RKH has been paying to PMO for engineeering work which the free carry was supposed to pay for, but didn't.
And now we know that the development carry has also vaporised , to be replaced by a loan, and a reduced stake in Sea Lion.
Talk about value destruction. This is epic scale, and at every turn, Sam bought into it to keep the exhorbitant salaries coming in, in my opinion. Frontier explorer to cosy lifestyle in the Med, which turned out to be another disaster.
Maybe the new PMO newco might be a saviour, but the root cause of this disasater was Pierre Jungels saying the banks would never support them without an experienced operator farmin. The banks never supported them anyway with PMO, so it was a false premise, which destroyed ambition and value.
I think any competent turnkey contractor would have financed this and delivered it years ago with 100 % ownership, but it was never even looked at , it seems to me. PJ bottled out.
I hope it comes good. It has my sentiment but not my confidence at the moment.