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GP - as always the devil is in the detail! If you look at the full report on the EOG website you will see that the Administration heading does seem to included costs on licences and presumably other work forwarding the portfolio (eg Morocco). I think cost of sales probably includes most the overheads which is why it dropped following cost cutting last year. Also the last full year revenue figures included the £0.5m achieved during the COVID collapse (If I recall $44 a barrel from the interims), the revenue in the second half of the year looks much better £0.9m and should have covered all costs, and of course since then the price of oil has risen even further.

GP I think you are right to separate Wressle and non-Wressle production because of differing cost (Wressle is exceptionally profitable!). We can see from past accounts on revenue and costs of sales that this older production will now easily be covering EOG running costs with some to spare at current oil prices. So for ballpark calculations on company finance I think it is more helpful to think of just Wressle revenue (minus extraction costs) as the profit we are making.

@H. You may be right about sentiment, because it doesn’t seem to make sense otherwise. But there is a difference to me in that the 6p would presumably have been based in part on “prospects” whereas Yanis’ calculations are solely showing known production!

In fact Yanis I think you have been ultra conservative in your calculations. Even taking GP “rumours” of 3 tankers a day that’s already 660 bopd - if we take the company statements at face value it’s 884 bopd and it they upgrade and flow higher could easily be 1000 bopd. If we get a super OP spike this winter as now being predicted in several places then $100 plus oil is on the cards. Put these figures together with OPex of $9 ( presuming that most Capex has already been paid), we could easily have Wressle profits of £2-3m by end of January on any of these flow rates. And this doesn’t include our current cash, our 83 bopd from non-Wressle production (not 93 as that includes 10bopd for early Wressle), nor the reasonable chance of a farmout on Morocco with back costs paid. Based on the comments in the Final Results I am asking myself why would we need a placing for any new venture?

@Tacuma. They seem to make some noise in the report about the geothermal stuff but don’t actually seem to say much. I really don’t think they are about to give all our cash to Brian’s little adventure. Quite a few other companies are supporting geothermal experiments in their depleted wells.. My (cynical) guess is that they are thinking its better to try and make use of these wells than waste money on decommissioning costs.

@Tovoc. Agreed except we won’t be getting any value from the gas production element in this as yet - so the 884 figure is more realistic to work with at present.

@GP. I thought the term “instantaneous flow rate” was just a recognised mathematical term for referring to a flow rate that was consistently at the stated level for the whole period (ie it flowed at 880 from the moment the choke was opened) as opposed to an “ integrated flow rate” which in effect is the average flow rate over the time ( ie the oil is coming in waves or increasing rather than flowing consistently).I don’t think one can draw any conclusions from the phrase about it not being sustained at that rate. In fact the move to upgrade the equipment to see its potential flow only really makes sense if they thought the rate was likely to be sustained, otherwise they would surely wait while the rate dropped over the coming days/hours and then decide if an upgrade was necessary?

Not sure that you will get that confirmation, unless it’s in an interview say post next Wressle announcement. They probably won’t want to close down any options in case some opportunity suddenly presents itself - all Aim companies need that flexibility to seize an unexpected prospect. Just down to us all to make our own minds up - for me “news in the coming months” means in EOG speak that we are looking but there is nothing definite yet, but we hope to say something this year as it’s still our plan if we can do it!

@Yanis. As CCF points out the “shortly to be announced” venture of Simon’s interview is nowhere to be seen and we are back to the aspirational language in the Chairman’s statement of still looking for such opportunities. The crazy gas prices of last few weeks may well have disrupted plans/valuations which is perhaps why nothing has happened. I don’t “know” any of this for sure and maybe they are just playing cards very close to their chests, but my take on the language is that the “venture” has been kicked down the road for now, which will hopefully mean that when it re-emerges we may have the cash in hand and not need a placing.

CCF that’s my take on the language used - report could have been written at end of August.for all the update it provides.

Yet in current circumstances I think that’s a big plus as it should mean no placing and an opportunity to build cash to move on future opportunities once the current gas peaks fall away. OK not very entrepreneurial but think a lot of shareholders would breathe a sigh of relief at no dilution right now for new ventures. We have Wressle production rates to confirm and forward plans on that licence to get on with which is short to medium term, small but useful extra revenue to squeeze from current production - and there are still real upside opps with Morocco and even Ireland over the year. Better position than I can remember here for a long time.

@Yanis. I may have misremembered this but I think the BGF holding is one of our longer term IIs and nothing to do with the last placing. I think they had to issue a TR1 at the time because the dilution reduced their overall percentage holding, not because they were a bucket shop sales outfit!

Agree with all you say except first sentence. We simply can’t know what Simon does or doesn’t realise - if it was a mistake he can’t unsay it - or if it was part of some mysterious “cunning plan” ….. We will have to see how it plays out!

I can’t believe he doesn’t realise that Yanis, just looking at our SP performance v Egdon.

As I see it there are 3 likely routes ahead
1. No dilution in which case we should easily leapfrog Egdon as we don’t have to spend the first 6 months of Wressle profits clearing debts
2. Small dilution at a reasonable price recognising the SP is already choked back by the uncertainty that this might be on the cards. Think that would be quickly cleared as investors calculate value of Wressle once the facts are known and so long as the acquisition doesn’t look like an expensive albatross.
3. Large dilution taking us back below 1.50 - probably peg us below 2p until whatever he’s brought starts to prove that it has real promise.

Personally think that this delay makes 1 or 2 the more likely options as if he wasn’t bothered about the SP level he could just have gone ahead and raised immediately as UJO did. But then who knows!

Frustrating. But at least they should have picked up somewhere between £500-750k from Wressle in the meantime, so as each day passes any raise that might be necessary for North Sea venture should get smaller!

I’m struggling to think of the new ventures this management team have brought on board! Which new EOG ventures are you referring to where the current CEO and Chairman have over promised and under delivered?

I never take the lists of what a raise is for too literally. Looking around companies tend to link it to “positives” rather than say it’s for “extra costs” or “in case x fails”. I think Febs raise was in part “insurance” in case Wressle needed a sidetrack, because a raise in those conditions would have obliterated the SP. I hope that means they have a substantial chunk of it left to fund whatever they target next. I don’t I,anime Wressle upgrade can be that expensive - it doesn’t seem to involve that much new work (I think UJO only mentioned it in their placing as one of their “positives”!). In any case we also have money coming in from our production wells prior to Wressle and this on its own should clearly be covering our standard costs at current OP and be providing a nice little contingency fund on top.

@Tovoc. That’s looks like a bit of a half full or half empty list!
Wressle flow rates announcements is down to EDR,
Morocco what would we expect to hear until they get some one signed up (got a bit tired of the phrase “interested parties” etc),
North Sea - can’t argue with that one, I only hope the delay works out to shareholders advantage here
Expect a report sometime this week - there is always some flexibility around these and I hope they are timing it to have maximum positive impact. They are also managing without a full FD as a sensible cost cutting exercise during COVID which I guess may mean it takes a little longer to consolidate the report
Inishkea - “the dream” - at least pressure is continuing to build on the Gov - did you see Tommy’s link to the Nephin article today on the other board?
Salaries - over generous in terms of size of business and not sufficiently linked to SP performance, especially when CEO and Chair have no substantial shareholding.
Benefits - working from home wasn’t a perk, it was another cost cutting measure, which I would fully support. Why would we want to waste money on offices in current working environment?

I am as anxious as you to find out how much Wressle is bringing in and whether we are going to seize the opportunity to add shareholder value and not throw it away this time. So far Simon has struck me as, if anything, overcautious - we will see. I console myself on the reporting delay that the figure they will report for how much Wressle has brought in so far can only be getting bigger!!

Wonder how low this SP has to go for Simon to come out and say that he has dropped his new venture (for now at least) - unless he can pay for it from revenue. Raising at this depressed range post Wressle success would be adding an extra 20-30% real cost to shareholders on top of whatever sum he was notionally paying for a new asset.

I suspect you’re not the only one Yanis!

Yes as soon as the ask moved up to 1.7 it released some shares - had been a problem when stuck for over a day at 1.6.

Still unable to buy online today.