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My 20 pounds in the pot too - now up to GBP 1357! Thanks Looed - I enjoyed reading the translated script you posted. I also had tried emailing Zaza's son, Nikoloz, asking him if he could get his father to put some of these official letters on the FRR website and an English translation of his TV messages, but no response from the fronteraus and fronteratradingllc addresses with gmail.com. At least they didn't bounce, so must be working. Thought this was a reasonable request since he's the 100% owner of both companies. This was the first question put to Zaza by the TV presenter (who are FRR and these sub companies?) but he avoided the reference to Nikoloz. The TV producers had at least done their research.
Application registration number, preparation date: B20003394, 15/01/2020 15:31:28
Brand Name: Frontera Ltd. U.S.
Legal form: Limited Liability Company
Identification number: 405373313
Date: 15/01/2020
Registering Authority: National Agency of Public Registry LEPL
Legal address: Georgia, Tbilisi, Vake district, K. Kekelidze St., N5
Additional information:
Email Email: fronteraus@gmail.com
Leadership / Representation
Director - Nikoloz Mamulaishvili, 01017019486
Partners
Owner
Nikoloz Mamulaishvili,
01017019486 100%
bobbbyrash,
Thanks for posting the link to the PAT-E1 PDF report. I downloaded it and had a good read through it last night.
Seems like quite an technical achievement to get down to TD and certainly the lowermost gas layers D & E of the Lower Eocene fractured carbonates look very interesting with the perforated zones and higher permeability.
Jenis Urazaliev, one of the paper's authors, has an active profile on LinkedIn and shows him still working in Tbilisi for SLB on the Lower Eocene fractured carbonate gas appraisal program on Block XI-B of Georgia (Kura basin).
Sorry, should have said Shows both ZM & SN's personal email addresses not emails.
Good find Chris!
Quite a long article on Georgian TV there with lots of discussion. I'm still trying to download it, but from what I could see from lots of start/stop footage, it starts off talking about the letter from Ted Cruz, then references the allegations about Iran and sanctions. Then goes on to discuss the legal dispute with GOGC with footage of piles of rusty and derelict equipment, nodding donkeys etc from Mirzaani only. They show a scan of the first and last page of the arbitration award, with signatures of the 3 judges on 17 April 2020. How did the TV station get copies of these? There's interviews with GOGC who are reading the CPR from NSA with various bits highlighted in green (sorry, I couldn't make it out). They then show a fax dated 29 April 2020 sent to FRR and LEPL requesting permission to release the full transcript and shows both ZM and SN's personal emails.!! Then the lawer from Hogan Lovells is interviewed from home ( translation given by DomFok), and followed by documents from Open Secrets showing fees paid for lobbying by FRR including one for USD 60k paid.
So nothing about Taribani here so far.
Great find Looed! The clock is definitely ticking towards Fridays deadline for submissions to the arbitration! Yes as far as I'm aware there has never been a phone number or email posted for the Georgia office. I kept checking because although i can't speak a word of Georgian, I can speak Russian and could at least have tried my luck to ask a few questions.
In the absence of any news today (until we hear about the possible picketing of the Georgian Parliament allegedly scheduled for today) here's a potted summary of snippets from today's BP RNS. Just useful background info really.
So the fall in BP's profits is due to the decline in lower margin gas basins? Best they find a new one that's profitable then!
The company’s full-year profits fell by 21% in 2019 to $10bn (£7.7bn), from $12.7bn in the year before, due to weaker oil and gas prices.
The slowdown in the global oil market has dented profits across the industry. The global oil price averaged $64.36 a barrel last year, down sharply from an average of just over $71 in 2018. The price has fallen further to less than $55 a barrel this week.
Divestments and other disposals announced since the start of 2019 now total $9.4 billion, keeping BP ahead of schedule to meet its target of $10 billion proceeds by end-2020. BP expects to announce a further $5 billion of agreed disposals by mid-2021.
- Five Upstream major projects began production in 2019, and final investment decisions were taken for a further five.
Final investment decisions for five further projects, in the US Gulf of Mexico, UK North Sea, Azerbaijan and India, were taken in 2019.
On 30 November, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) through Turkey and its connection to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in Greece was completed. TANAP is expected to begin transporting gas to Turkish and European markets in late 2020 (Azeri state energy company SOCAR 51%, BOTAS 30%, BP 12%, and SOCAR Turkey 7%).
Looney is expected to announce new climate targets for the company, which faces public outcry over its role in accelerating the crisis by continuing to increase its production of fossil fuels.
He will reportedly set new carbon targets for BP beyond the emissions from its own operations to include the emissions produced from using the fuels they produce, according to Reuters. The company may also sell off the oil and gas fields with the largest carbon footprints in Angola and Canada.
We expect full-year 2020 underlying production to be lower than 2019 due to declines in lower margin gas basins. We expect reported production to be lower due to the above factor and the impact of the ongoing divestment programme.
ZenInvestor,
Yes, the act by Georgian Railways of deeming the relevant section of railtrack 'unsafe' sounds like a classic case of throwing a bureaucratic spanner in the works, as ordered by someone higher up at government level. At least that's how it works in Russia. If a dodgy section of track had existed, it would have been repaired fairly quickly you'd have thought - given the dependency of the townsfolk in Dedoplitskharo and the involvment of an American oil company/employer.
My take on the arbitration schedule below is that there is still 2 weeks left for the parties to come to some agreement, but after Feb 14th it's then in the hands of the Arbitration Tribunal and the Georgian Government have said they're hopeful of getting a decision by the end of Q1 2020. Perhaps it explains the flurry of letters from the US and maybe Zaza has until 2 weeks tomorrow to pull a rabbit out of the hat! " As a result of the arbitration hearings, on 13 December 2019, in a letter sent to the parties, the Arbitration Tribunal addressed the parties, inter alia, with the proposal:
(A) expressed its position on the need and timing for the exchange of short summary submissions after the hearings; The matter will be decided by the Arbitration Tribunal.
(B) Submit claims for reimbursement of costs related to arbitration before January 31, 2020. However, the parties have been given the opportunity to respond to the request of the opposing party by 14 February 2020. "
An interesting link posted on Facebook Frontera Fan Club Georgia 3 hours ago - nice to get an explanation in English and to hear more details about the Frontera workers.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/investor-standoff-georgia-brings-workers-us-congressmen-conflict
Here's the additional snippet of info from the 'See circumstances' link that was missing from the bottom of Hoops09's post.
I thought the google translate was quite good overall, although it talks about the 84 unpaid employees working for Frontera Western Georgia. When I watched a previous Georgian TV clip of the unpaid employees demonstrating outside the US embassy, they were complaining about Frontera Eastern Georgia, which of course is under control of the liquidators.
On September 25, 2019, the Contractor Law Firm notified the Arbitration Tribunal of the termination of service to the Contractor. In this respect, the Contractor requested the adjournment of the arbitration hearings scheduled for October 1-11. Notwithstanding the reasonable suspicion of the Contractor for a manifestly dishonest attempt to delay the arbitration process and against the corporation and the Agency, the Arbitration Tribunal upheld the Contractor's claim.
? The arbitration hearings were adjourned until December 9-14, 2019. At the close of the hearing, the Contractor renewed attempts to disrupt the arbitration hearings (which also included refusal to participate in the hearings), which were not considered by the Arbitration Tribunal;
? As a result of the arbitration hearings, on 13 December 2019, in a letter sent to the parties, the Arbitration Tribunal addressed the parties, inter alia, with the proposal:
(A) expressed its position on the need and timing for the exchange of short summary submissions after the hearings; The matter will be decided by the Arbitration Tribunal.
(B) Submit claims for reimbursement of costs related to arbitration before January 31, 2020. However, the parties have been given the opportunity to respond to the request of the opposing party by 14 February 2020. "
Thanks Earsbern...it was just the text entry on pacermonitor that said 'Letter from Steve C. Nicandros....(DeClerq.William).
Chris, it's document no. 60. I can see it sitting there on my bookmarked page, but when I log in to pacermonitor.com i'm not yet able to see it. Perhaps it will be available to download at the weekend. The letter from SN is sent by his attorneys DeClercq, William.
A new letter from Steve Nicandros has appeared in the Judge Seeborg case - dated Thursday 5th Dec!
Madpunter,
The statement made by the liquidators (on behalf of FRCC) on Friday to the NY Court confirms at least that the Caymans Liquidation is going to be treated as a foreign main event, so that should mean that the B12 asset in Georgia should remain outside of the court's remit. I can't see any mention in the court documents listed of accounts held in the US, but I guess we just have to keep tabs on the issues raised by them as they get posted. I've copied the statement below for your reference. It's not possible to read the comment that Judge Michael Wiles has added on Monday however.
LIQUIDATORS’ NOTICE PURSUANT TO FED. R. BANKR. P. 9017 AND FED. R. CIV. P. 44.1
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that, pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9017 and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44.1, Andrew Morrison and David Griffin, the duly appointed joint official liquidators and foreign representatives (“Liquidators”) of Frontera Resources Caucasus Corporation (in Official Liquidation) (“FRCC”), a Cayman Islands limited company in official liquidation under the supervision of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, Cause No. FSD 138 of 2019 (IKJ) (the “Cayman Liquidation”), pursuant to the Cayman Islands Companies Law (2018 Revision) (the “Companies Law”) and the Companies Winding Up Rules, 2018 (“CWR”), intend to raise issues pertaining to foreign law, specifically, the Companies Law, the CWR and related Cayman Islands insolvency law, in connection with their petition for entry of an Order pursuant to chapter 15 of title 11 of the United States Code, 11 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. (the “Bankruptcy Code”): (i) recognizing the Cayman Liquidation as a foreign main proceeding, or in the alternative, foreign nonmain proceeding, and the Liquidators as FRCC’s foreign representatives pursuant to sections 1509 and 1517 of the Bankruptcy Code; (ii) granting automatic relief pursuant to sections 1520 and 1521 of the Bankruptcy Code; (iii) granting other and additional relief pursuant to sections 1507, 1520 and 1521(a) of the Bankruptcy Code; and (iv) any other relief the court deems just and proper.
Dated: New York, New York
October 25, 2019
Respectfully submitted,
HOLLAND & KNIGHT LLP
I like this bit of the Chapter 15 description below, which might limit any attempt by DTI to void the transfer?
If a full bankruptcy case is initiated by a foreign representative (when there is a foreign main proceeding pending in another country), bankruptcy court jurisdiction is generally limited to the debtor's assets that are located in the United States. 11 U.S.C. § 1528.
This time it will be Angola. I have worked offshore several times in Nigeria though, and it's a great place to work and very safe. It's only very close to shore in the delta region that's unsafe. I haven't worked in OML 113, but have explored next door in Benin, just over the border. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what the new CEO brings to the table.
gilogilo,
That's great - thanks a lot for answering my questions!
Now I'm happy to sign off on the form and post it off. I would love to attend, but am heading to west Africa next week, so will be offshore when it happens.
Well, I received my voting form for the AGM on 2nd Aug with 5 resolutions to vote on, 2 of which raised a question that I'm unsure about.
Ordinary Business
4: That the directors be generally and unconditionally authorised to exercise all powers of the company to allot shares.
I thought the Sheikh was against letting the directors do what they like?
Special Business
5: To disapply pre-exemption rights
No idea what this is and there's nothing in the letter to explain this one, or on the website either for that matter. Any suggestions?
If in doubt I'll probably just vote against them!
On Marinetraffic.com, the oil tanker M/V Karvounis is finally on her way from block OML113 and now motoring at 10.5knots.
Her route has been updated from the Front Puffin FPSO to Melbourne, Australia with an ETA of 27th July.
So this would mean an operations update coming out after the oil has been sold after docking in Melbourne.
The timing would tie in nicely with the AGM on Aug 1st!
Dave73,
Well, there is an email for investor relations, so maybe worth giving that a try.....
ir@yorkvilleadvisors.com
5 possible answers to the question ....have all preference shares now been redeemed?
1. yes
2. no
3. Cannot disclose this information due to ongoing legal issues
4. Cannot disclose this information due to client confidentiality
5. best
The oil tanker Karvaunis has now moved away from the FPSO Front Puffin in the Adje field, Nigeria, so it's no longer on the list of nearby vessels to Front Puffin on marinetraffic.com.
Hopefully we shall see it steaming soon to the next destination with the June cargo uplift.