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A new entry just in on the Harris County site - FRR are to appeal the motion to deny arbitration!!
DEFENDANTS' NOTICE OF ACCELERATED APPEAL
Defendants Steve Nicandros, Luis Giusti, Tyler Nelson (collectively, "Individual Defendants") and Frontera Resources Corporation ("Nominal Defendant") provide this Notice of Accelerated Appeal (the "Notice") and respectfully show this Court the following:
1. Defendants and Nominal Defendant file this Notice of Appeal pursuant to the TEx. R. APP. P. 25.1, 26.1, and 28.1.
2. The Trial Court is the 281' Judicial District Court, Judge Christine Weems presiding. The full style of the case is Cause Number 2021-03816, Zaza Mamulaishvili, Plaintiff v. Steve Nicandros, Luis Giusti and Tyler Nelson, Defendants, and Frontera Resources Corporation, Nominal Defendant.
3. Defendants and Nominal Defendant desire to appeal:
a. the Order Denying Defendants' and Nominal Defendant's Motion to Compel Arbitration and Stay Proceedings, dated February 23, 2021 (Ex. 1).
4. This appeal will be taken to either the First Court of Appeals or the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, both in Houston, Texas.
5. The parties filing this Notice are Steve Nicandros, Luis Giusti, Tyler Nelson and Frontera Resources Corporation.
6. This is an accelerated appeal. This is not a parental termination or child protection case as defined in TEx. R. APP. P. 28.4.
7. This Notice will be served on all active parties in the Trial Court and, at the time of the filing the Notice, a copy of this Notice will be delivered to each court reporter responsible for preparing the reporter's record. TEx. R. APP. P. 25.1(e) and TEx. R. Civ. P. 21a. Defendants and Nominal Defendant will provide proof of service of same. TEX. R. APP. P. 9.5(d).
DATED and FILED on the 9th day of March, 2021.
Respectfully submitted, DENTONS US LLP By: /s/ Laura Gibson Laura Gibson State Bar No. 07869350 laura.gibson@dentons.com Glenn A. Ballard, Jr. State Bar No. 01650200 glenn.ballard@dentons.com 1221 McKinney Street, Suite 1900 Houston, Texas 77010 Tel: 713-658-4635 Fax: 713-739-0834
Just one small update I noticed to the pending court case in Harris County, Texas.
On Friday 5th March, there was a new addition to the Judgements/Events category stating 'Designated Trial Ready'.
No new documents on Pacer regarding the California trial, although the docket does seem to get updated regularly. I thought the deadline was for end of February for SN and S.Hope/Outrider to reach some sort of amicable settlement, so although the chances of this this seem very remote, it's still gives me something to check regularly.
This just popped up today on the LSE share news...
IN BRIEF: ADM Energy continues possible Nigeria investment discussions
Thu, 4th Mar 2021 06:57
ADM Energy PLC - natural resources investor - Says discussions are ongoing regarding an investment opportunity in an existing discovery in Nigeria, as well as a possible subscription with one of its funding partners and other potential investors. Notes it had been in talks with shareholders about a potential equity fundraising, including a placing, and an investment opportunity, but terminated discussions regarding the placing back in February. ADM Energy says a subscription - if it were to go ahead - would be expected to be at a premium to the current share price, with directors intending to participate. Says continued talks around the investment opportunity in Nigeria "are at an advanced stage" though not certain.
"Completion of the investment opportunity is not conditional on the fundraise but it is expected that any proceeds from the fundraise would be put towards the investment opportunity and provide the company with additional working capital," ADM noted last month.
Natural Gas World are hosting an online conference on Wed 3rd March discussing possible future gas supplies to Europe which might have some relevance to Georgia. Not sure if I want to take out a year's subscription just in order to register for it though!
European Gas Dialogues 2021 - Natural Gas World
https://www.naturalgasworld.com/european-gas-dialogues-2021?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=European%20Gas%20Dialogues&utm_content=European%20Gas%20Dialogues+CID_bb55d936e56ba792b645353af5751ad7&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Full%20Agenda%20and%20Speakers%20Bios
EUROPEAN GAS DIALOGUES 2021
BRINGING TOGETHER THE SPECTRUM OF STAKEHOLDERS IN THE NATURAL GAS COMMUNITY
March 3, 2021 – 10am CET
Supply competition in Europe’s gas markets
Europe’s domestic production is declining rapidly which means import dependency is rising. A number of suppliers are well positioned to take advantage of this; Russia, Qatar, US, Norway. New import infrastructure and the gasification of Eastern Europe opens up new markets and increases competition. Who will supply Europe with gas in the short and medium term and will Gazprom’s dominant position be challenged?
Panel:
Massimo Di Odoardo, WoodMac
Armelle Lecarpentier, Cedigaz
Carlos Bernado Torres Diaz, Rystad Energy
Thierry Bros, Professor SciencesPo/ Member of NGW’s Advisory Board
Sergiy Makogon, GTSOU
There are new documents posted late last night (22nd Feb) on the Harris County website for case number 202103816- 7 including some text message exchanges between SN & ZM concerning the PPP and EIDL loans and a 6 page document submitted by SN in support of defendants motion to compel arbitration.
There's lots of interesting details in here!
It was argued by Claudia Frost that in Texas law that there has to exist an agreement for an enforceable arbitration between parties, but in this case a narrow agreement existed between ZM & FRC but not between ZM and the 3 defendants which is the issue at question. The claims are not related to ZM's employment and ZM did not agree to arbitrate with the 3 defendants.
Yes, I was on the video call as well.
Motion to compel arbitration was denied by Judge Christine Weems after a lot of legalese speak by both sides - Claudia Frost representing ZM and Laura Gibson representing FRR.
There's an updated file on the Harris County website with the date for oral hearing now set for Tuesday 23rd Feb at 0930 Houston Time (1530 GMT).
This is the Defendant's motion(SN, Luis Gusti, Tyler Nelson & FRC) to compel arbitration and stay proceedings against ZM.
The hearing will take place via Zoom:
https://justex.zoom.us/j/85454877049
Chris,
It looks like this case was started in June 2020 with a case number 1155531.
Excellence is In Solutions Inc has a website and is about high performance computers and analytics solutions
https://x-iss.com/about-us/
Maybe SN hasn't paid the IT bill for the in-house servers?
On another case with ZM vs SN (case no. 202103816- 7), Zaza's lawyer has paid the fees on 27th Jan and citations were sent out by certified mail to both the FRC office and SN's home address this week.
Looking at the updated summary today from Cornerstone:
https://projects.propublica.org/represent/lobbying/r/300927606
The total spent so far on lobbying since Oct 2017 is about USD 770,000, which is a hefty whack, considering FRR couldn't afford to pay the salaries of Georgian employees!
Transcript of today's announcement - further NATO integration but no dramatic news on membership....
President Zourabichvili, dear Salomé.
It is a pleasure to welcome you back to NATO Headquarters.
Georgia is one of NATO’s most important partners.
We have a close political partnership and strong practical cooperation.
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, NATO and Georgia continue to strengthen our partnership.
At today’s meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission, we will take stock of our achievements, and assess what more we can do together.
Last year, we upgraded the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package.
This helps Georgia to implement reforms;
Enhance its ability to operate with Allies;
And continue to contribute to our shared security.
Our key priorities include:
Secure communications, and actually the President and I discussed that during the meeting today;
Training and exercises;
And enhancing our maritime support and situational awareness.
Today we will also address the security situation in the Black Sea region.
And Russia’s continued military build-up.
NATO supports Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, within its international recognised borders.
We continue to call on Russia to end its recognition of the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and to withdraw its forces.
And I took good note of the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. It confirms that Russia is responsible for human rights violations in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and that Russia actually exercises control there. It only strengthens our call for Russia to comply with international law and respect Georgia’s territorial integrity.
In our meeting, we also discussed the progress Georgia is making on reforms.
This is crucial.
Because progress on the reforms brings you closer to our shared goal: membership of NATO.
Today we addressed Georgia’s commitment to our Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.
Georgia has long been one of the largest troop contributors to NATO’s training mission. We appreciate the professionalism of Georgian men and women in uniform. And we all know the sacrifices you have made.
So, Madam President, Salomé.
Thank you for being here today.
And for your strong personal commitment to NATO, and to our partnership.
NATO’s partnership with Georgia makes us all safer and more secure.
Thanks Chris...makes for an interesting read.
I hope all these shenanigans with Kazakhstan only serves to encourage Hope towards reaching an amicable settlement with FRR by the 26 Feb deadline.
I also read the embedded article about FRR in Moldova from 2017
https://6qv5oodq3fvt42u7pl5z4brfyi-adwhj77lcyoafdy-anticoruptie-md.translate.goog/ru/rassledovanija/ekonomika/kak-millionery-s-kajmanovyh-ostrovov-priveli-v-moldovu-kompaniju-frontera
and it had some interesting background detail about the whole debacle that I hadn't bothered to read before, including some comments about the off-book SEA trades 4 weeks before delisting.
At the 2nd shareholder meeting I went to, Zaza spoke as truthfully as he was allowed to for 99% of the 2 hours Q&A session, but when someone asked him if he knew who the seller was that persistently kept putting large trades through, he shrugged his shoulders and his eyes glazed over as he shook his head and answered no. At this point I knew that he was lying, and in the end it put me off attending the last meeting.
So I'm glad that he's no longer in the picture, other than as a significant shareholder, and very encouraging to hear of developments with Dustin Aro's return.
Here's some background info on the bid process from Oct 28th while we wait for the results ...
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria’s regulatory agency, is awaiting the approval of the Minister of Petroleum, to announce the results of the Marginal Fields bid round.
DPR concluded the analysis of the bids in the last two weeks and it has sent the results to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, who is to deliver it to President Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s defacto Minister of Petroleum.
The three and half month-long bid round exercise featured 52 fields and was concluded on September 15, 2020.
It was heavily subscribed; the largest number of bid applications in any hydrocarbon licencing sale in Africa in close to 10 years.
While the round started with over 500 applications, it closed with at least 100 applications making it all the way, each delivering at least $115,000 to the Nigerian treasury in the process.
And there will be more money heading to those coffers; when the results are announced, wining bidders have to pay signature bonus before the final awards. Analysts expect some highly contested fields, like Egbolom, to attract north of $5Million as signature bonus.
Nigerian marginal fields bid round is restricted only to locals.
Most applicants in this round, the second such formal round of its type in 17 years, were Nigerian independents who already produce crude oil and gas and are seeking to expand their portfolios. Others were Nigerian oil service contractors who now feel they should take positions in hydrocarbon acreages.
Bugsy, if it helps, here's the translation for the single page word document on google drive. Gas collection point??
The other 147 pages might take a bit longer:-) Looks like there's some useful info and pics in that document so might be worth persevering with. My online translator can only do 500 characters at a time.
LEPL State Oil and Gas Agency
Gan Tskhadeba
Please be informed that on the XI-B license block of oil and gas resources (Sagarejo and Gardabani districts) \"Schlumberger Rustaveli Company Limited (branch)
by the order of a consultant, the company\" AM Consulting \"is preparing and Gas collection point - Bride AJG 4 \"Environmental Impact Assessment Report\" (EIA), which contains analysis of potential environmental impacts as a result of oil and gas operations. EIA in accordance with the rules established by the legislation of Georgia, the EIA report is available to any member of the public. The electronic version of the document is available on the Facebook page of the State Oil and Gas Agency (State Agency of Oil and Gas) and on the official website of the Sagarejo Municipality (www.sagarejo.gov.ge). In the case of the Agency (Tbilisi, Sanapiro St. ?2) and Sagarejo Municipality Hall (D. Agmashenebeli St.
The public has the right to submit comments and comments on the EIA report to the Agency within 40 working days of the publication of the EIA report (in writing; electronically, if it allows the author and sender to be reliably identified).
investmentboy,
At least the FRR site on LinkedIn is still active, and it's possible to connect to some 30 employees shown there.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/frontera-resources-corporation/
Looed,
What a great effort putting all that together! I fully support your sending it to FRR and then, after some time for a response, to a reporter. Apart from a few typos in part 1, is it worth adding the fact that the government paid some compensation for unpaid salaries to the 80 ex-Frontera employees of some 380 USD each? Zaza seemed utterly indifferent to their plight also.
We should use the timing of the election to our advantage in that there is an incentive for the company to reassure shareholders and not risk attracting media attention in the run-up to the election if there is anything worthwhile going on in the background.
Looed/Jiff,
Contacting a reporter is a good initiative.
I never received a reply from any of the official or unofficial FRR email addresses in the various company documents so far!
I had a browse through all Zaza's FB friends and the vast majority of them were either opposition MP's, journalists or contacts at the various Georgian media outlets. One friend was Maka Burjanadze who worked for FRR during the last HSE campaign with Terry L. Thoem and has a FB profile open to all. She's been active on the business scene in Tbilisi and might be worth a shot to ask her opinion if there's any hope for FRR.
Other suggestions for contacting other individuals for their opinion might be:
(1) the 3 arbitrators, Professor Dr Nathalie Voser, Mr R.Doak Bishop and Professor Dr. Maxi Sherer to see if they can comment on the conflicting opinions of the outcome - their phone nos. and emails are listed in the arbitration document.
(2) the key individuals at GOGC who were involved in the arbitration - Mr Givi Bakhtadze, Mr David Oniani and Mr Vazha Khidasheli
WHamBoy,
Yes, his posts are still available to view on his members page.
However, the documents on onedrive listed on his 14 June post have now been deleted and that wouldn't have been done by LSE.
I did a quick check yesterday and they were still there - pity I didn't save them!
I got a reply from Camarco yesterday, to say that my questions were being forwarded on to the Block Energy Board.
Look forward to what they have to say on Thursday!
well said scoobyrex! I'm surprised there's no chat about the closed doors AGM this week.
I posted my voting form off a couple of weeks ago and I expect all the motions to pass.
So there should be 2 updates this week. One to give the results, saying that all motions were duly passed and another with an update as promised.
Shareholders are invited to submit questions to info@blockenergy.co.uk or to Owen Roberts (owen.roberts@camarco.co.uk) by Monday 15 June. A presentation and answers to the key questions will be posted on the Company's website on the day of the AGM.
It will be interesting to see what questions have been answered!
After the meeting it will be in the BOD's interest to get the share price moving upwards to minimise dilution when the SLB deal goes through, presumably after a raft of meetings in Tbilisi in July once flights start operating.
At the very least, we'd hope for an update on the EGF shipping status - it can't be in transit forever. Should have put a first class stamp on it!