From AB18 Jun 2025 07:59
Thanks for the message and my apologies for the slow response.
I understand and share your frustration with the current situation.
As outlined in our various announcements, delays in drilling (up until this week) have been related to the availability of a drilling rig. There has only been one rig available to us. It arrived in the region and started operating for another company mid last year. It has worked for 2 operators subsequently and is still on location for the second of those. For a variety of technical reasons, each of the prior companies has significantly overrun on their activities and we have been forced to wait. This is unfortunately fairly normal in this industry - if the rig is not available, it is not available - there is not a pool of rigs that we can access easily in the area (although we do expect more availability in the broader Asia-Pacific region going forward following several years of very limited availability).
The latest, highly frustrating delay is much more unusual. The helicopter provider in-country was unable to provide aircraft to service our campaign, and we cannot operate without helicopter support. Our state-owned partner is also part of the helicopter joint venture, which has been trying to find a solution, without success. We recommended using alternative helicopters available in neighbouring Australia but have been refused permission to do so. We did not foresee this; it is astonishing to prioritise local content issues over actual execution of operational objectives.
Regarding the CLNs already issued, those that have been converted were added to the shares on issue. As announced this week, we do not expect to issue further CLNs.
I am sorry that your investments are under water. I can only comment that we are focused on moving forward from this situation, preserving and realising the value in the Chuditch project with a revised drilling schedule, as well as pursuing a number of options to grow the business through other material assets in the SE Asian region.
Kind regards
Andy