Member Info for stockdale

It really doesn't help your case (or ours) New_2 to write an email to Colin asking for information and then to come on here referring to Colin as 'a clown'. It also shows your ignorance of what he has done for the company over the years against, what is clearly now, overwhelming odds. He has frequently used lateral thinking to get things done when things have gone wrong. Getting the pipeline to Croatia and exporting gas to INA is a classic example.

We need to get this to succeed. We need to know who and what we are up against. We need to know the opponent. And it isn't Colin, or Clive.

Probably not the way to look at it New_2. It's rare that anyone is given the chance to run a company. Normally they have to work for and invest in an idea for a company. If you think you are going to be 'given a chance' it's unlikely it will happen for you.

A bit pointless without oil to sell.

A good email New_2. And posting it here means Colin really can not ignore it.

There has always been issues of 'confidentiality' in dealing with Slovenia. The local buyer of gas could not be divulged before the INA contract. However sometimes too much weight is placed on it when shareholders, who fund AST, have a right to know.

For the grammar pedants - correction: ... who is to say CH is procrastinating?

Whose to say CH is procrastinating? He should be on manoeuvres right now. These things take time and it doesn't pay to advertise it.

CH needs to outflank Jure Leben. He should go over his head to the Slovene PM, to the UK government representatives in the form of the B.C.of C. and the Ambassador and even to certain individuals known to be helpful in Brussels or Strasbourg, where ever they currently are. CH should be aware of who is influential in the EU to help. On his own JL is an impenetrable barrier. He needs to be persuaded from higher authority.

Better start composing those letters then EC. The way this is going is patently obvious. More delay and then more. The holiday period makes it easier for them but it will continue after. Colin needs to find a way to unlock this in our favour.

Maybe Colin feels he can persuade the Minister and ARSO to issue the permits? You see I can show a glimmer of optimism. Oh look, there's a unicorn.

Shame though. I rather liked 'Despicable Me'. :-)

Just being a realist EC. Anything else is just looking for unicorns.

EC, you should try living in certain southern European countries. It happens all the time. Most wouldn't need to leave the EU even if they wanted to. They'd just ignore the EU laws they didn't like. Something us Brits just can't do it would seem.

JL has been on an ego trip building his environmental credentials. That seems to garner support from the Slovene public, supported by the Slovene Press. That is how he will easily explain why the permits have not been granted. The general public do not understand the technical differences between fracking and the stimulation required by Geonergo and AST. The Press are supporting the notion that the stimulation required is not good for the environment and, with their government saying it is bad, why would the general public not support the government line of not granting the permits? They are after all a product of a previous communist lifestyle where the government was always right.

I agree with both of you. I'm just saying courses of action for AST right now are severely limited. Maybe a wait and see attitude is the best policy. You can only tell by hind sight some months from now. Only then could we say that we should have done such and such. Even then that course of action may not have worked. You can only know whether a course of action has worked after trying it.

EC, Our government is doing a lot right now that very many people here do not agree with. They are doing it anyway. What are people doing about it? Protesting outside parliament? Yeah, that's helping isn't it?

You could try WHYAST. You may not get very far. We've already seen the Slovene Press and their courts have supported their governments line of action. It would be a big risk to go for legal action. You would be burning your diplomatic bridges. The EU would insist you go through the Slovene courts primarily. They would support the government line.

In the long run the last RNS may come to fruition: keep the Slovene operation going by the income from PG10 and PG11a and otherwise leave Slovenia for somewhere else, like Croatia.

The legal route becomes highly problematic and waiting for the Slovene government to see sense could be an indefinite pastime.

EC, They have been delaying the permit up till now. What's to stop them delaying further? Nothing currently. They are already wide open to be taken to the ECJ. The problem is would the ECJ find in favour of AST? Would they consider, after many months of deliberation, that this is a sovereign issue for Slovenia? Even if the ECJ eventually found in favour of AST would Slovenia take any notice of the court's decision? There have been many cases of countries just disregarding decisions made by the ECJ.

You (we) have every right to be indignant but we need a course of action that is likely to succeed and not just to not succeed or to be ignored even if we do succeed. The alternative route would be diplomacy. A route that Colin appears to be going with currently. Albeit with no success so far.

He's on an ego trip New_2. He's a politician foremost and then an environmentalist. His current action is getting Press coverage as the great saviour of the Slovene environment. He is becoming harder to deal with for AST not easier, as some think, with his outrageous approach to this issue.

Before reso jumps in, as he would argue that Russian gas is cheaper financially, I would point out the political expense of Russian gas. The political arm twisting from Russia should not be underestimated. Slovenia is meant to be a member of the EU. In reality they lean towards Russia.