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Much as I don’t like it, rereading the Irish Times article on the Climate Summit announcement, it says that this took DCCAE by surprise and everyone was now waiting for a policy paper on this by the Minister to go to Cabinet in the next month. I guess potential partners might want to see this before committing to farm ins (or even DCCAE progressing permits/licence awards) having waited so long. Beyond frustrating if true - but I guess only EOG know if this is the case.

Wraith, I agree it’s positive re the geology but my beef with the delay is that if it’s political I can’t see what new information will resolve this. An election is likely over the next year in Ireland, so expect a stream of green voter aimed statements like the most recent and endless clarification of what it actually means (which in an election year is probably not very much!). So IMO the major could decide now based on an anlysis of Ireland’s energy needs, Gov long term energy plans and their assessment of the overall political risk common across most western democracies.

I suppose there might be, but I suspect it would damage their reputation when trying to work with other companies and not worth risking this when dealing with such tiny sums of money (to them!)

On the upside - no “Friday RNS”, on the downside no news of any sort on the farmouts. So I am getting increasingly baffled about why we don’t get a decision, what else could the major be waiting for?

If it was geology surely Iolar analysis is available, so if they haven’t rejected on this, then what else do they need after a years contemplation? If it was political, surely the situation is as clear now as it is ever likely to be with the present Gov?And it doesn’t make sense to wait to see what comes next because who knows how long that will be and how long that will last! EOG must know by now what the major is looking for, otherwise why say “things will start to come to a conclusion in September ...”? The SP looks dead while this remains unresolved and it’s hard to imagine what is likely to revive it without addressing this directly - so IMO some sort of update/guidance in the absence of a decision would be good.
But until we hear from EOG does anyone else have any other thoughts about possible reasons for the continuing delay in the majors decision?

6 years is a long time, Tac, would it really take this long - cos thats quite depressing! Not sure that there are many countries we would want to operate in that could give this cast iron guarantee for 6 years time in current envirnonment for oil - maybe for gas. What was the attitude to oil exploration in Ireland 6 years ago?

Whether you like Morocco or not, don’t the small companies have to compete by finding what the majors may have overlooked or where they haven’t already staked their claim?

Looking at EOG twitter apparently the Irish gov have clarified that existing licences will be unaffected and that they remain valid - and that this new policy applies only to future exploration licences. So it looks as if there is a good opportunity in the short term at least here for EOG.

It’s all about speed. The longer any potential project takes to progress the higher the chance that something will come along to disrupt it. Whatever else it is doing EOG needs to move with maximum speed (i.e. with real urgency, pushing ahead on anything possible) to get Inishkea over the line while this is still getting Gov support.

Someone must have sold a large holding to bring the price down that much and soak up so many buys. On past evidence we won’t see the sale appearing unti tonight or tomorrow evening.

When Varadkar makes a new statement you need to clarify what that means whatever may have been said before in debates on a separate bill. So it looks clear that Inishkea shouldn’t be affected, but what about confirmation for Kiely and Edgeworth, which are currently granted licences. And what about the L/O that eog currently has in for conversion to a Exploation Licence etc.

Irish Examiner reports today that on arriving in New York for UN Climate Summit that Varadkar said that Ireland would be one of the first countries to phase out exploration for Oil - a change of policy “recognising that we end exploration of oil”. He goes on to say “we will continue to explore for natural gas given it’s a transitional fuel that we are going to need for the next few decades”. (Article switches between saying end/phase out exploration for oil, so not totally clear what this actually means yet)

Agree in part, but just because one company decides not to pursue this strategy of several farm ins, doesn’t mean that another company may not be interested in at least part of the offering (e.g. Inishkea) - as that depends on their strategy and approach to the region.

I thought from Hugh’s comments here in August that he was prob referring to Iolar results being the trigger. However this drill ended early soon after, but its failure does not seem to have brought about a decision - and surely any post drill analysis should be available by now a month or so later? So if it’s not just geology driven hesitation, then perhaps it’s political doubts as the companies keep mentioning. But this Irish Gov has made pretty clear it’s position particular re gas - and permits are still being granted even if at a painfully slow pace. So what information/change could the Major be waiting for to help make their decision?

Interesting article - wasn’t sure of the intended audience - Irish Gov , shareholders? Downbeat headline but expressing confidence in article. What came home to me was that if we don’t get the survey done this year, we are very unlikely to be drilling next - even if we have landed a partner, as it seems to take over 6 months to get a licence, so a survey next Spring will see the year done before we get drilling permit.
Also now talking by end of year for farm in partner. Perhaps the difference between “SHOULD come to a conclusion” and “WILL ......” (sorry Tac!).

Surely this is just confirming what was announced in June and that people have been talking about the last couple of days - which may explain low level reaction on the boards today?

Don’t know if it was just me but I had missed the interview about the Morocco award which Hugh has done with Proactive -it is now showing up on EOG Twitter. Gives a bit more detail on the timescales/forward plans on this and of the search in future for more appraisal and development opportunities rather than pure exploration. But any discussion about the Irish farmouts is avoided, which makes me think that some movement on this may be close.

While like everyone else I don’t have the information yet to judge whether this is pure gold or worthless (or somewhere in between), it makes sense that EOG should continue to look for longer term opportunities and widen their portfolio. However until we get news on Irish farmouts (at least Inishkea) and the confidence that will bring in terms of EOGs ability to turn their expertise into tangible value, I doubt that it’s going to do much for us in the short term.

Does anyone know if the draft law re UPL in Saouaf has passed or will it now have to wait until after the Parliamentary elections in October?

Find it strange that Hugh referenced end of Sept if he wasn’t thinking of Iolar results - it must have been pretty clear when he said this that only the Inishkea permit was likely to be decided before end of September. Not sure what the delay in decision is now, unless the major is still waiting on something in the final analysis of the samples.

Well it had better be quicker than the 8weeks they took with Exola earlier this summer, or the window will be shut for this year! Ridiculous considering the application was in May.