what's happening, page-50

Thanks Jusik for publishing your feedback from management.
I own plenty of these but never , ever, got a response to my enquiries.
From Steve's own account he now feels he has been dealt a bad hand, though when given the job he was very optimistic.

I sort of take some exception to this comment he made
"It’s common knowledge that the Molopo acreage is not in the middle of the Wolfcamp play but on the south-east flank; and our results have been reflective of that. I can tell you that two operators (BHP and Approach) with lands proximate to us (and specifically our larger Fiesta block in the south) have not released any data that would change our view of being optimistic that there is more there than we have been able to unlock."

I am not sure that is common knowledge or even correct.
As far as I know BHP have never drilled at all in their south eastern acreage but Approach Resources have.
Here is a article on their website, which is very flattering about the Southern acreage, whether it be East, or West.
Here is the link
http://www.approachresources.com/approach/files/ab/ab8ea30d-8a05-4f46-be96-d0568bc41784.pdf

Excerpts include
"“The geology is consistent over miles and miles of
exposure. This play is going to be massive.”

"Until recently, Permian operators
believed the Midland Basin ended at the Ozona
Arch uplift in southern Upton and Reagan
counties, and certainly before Crockett County
below. The Wolfcamp formation, the source
rock across the expanse of the Permian, has
long been believed to be nonexistent here, a
bald spot, so to speak, in geological journals.
And while operators for decades have drilled
into the deeper Canyon, Strawn and Ellen-
burger gas formations, they simply bypassed
logging the middle intervals, believing them
nonproductive. Some called the hard shale a
trick zone. Data were sparse.
It was a small public Permian E&P—Ap-
proach Resources Inc.—that revealed in a late-
2010 analyst day report in New York that the
Midland Basin extended further south into
Crockett County. The company came armed
with mud logs on more than 200 air-drilled
wells with real-time shows that the Wolfcamp
column was there, and thick. Very thick—up to
1,200 feet."

“That was the beauty of it. It was a no-
brainer at that point—the southern Midland
Basin did extend down into Crockett County.”

"With data on more than 60 wells to date, re-
sults have not disappointed. Initial production
(IP) rates often exceed 1,000 barrels of oil
equivalent (BOE) per day with a 90% oil and
liquids mix, very styling today. “We’re at that
inflection point whereby our understanding of
the Wolfcamp shale play will grow signifi-
cantly,” says Irene Haas, an analyst with Wun-
derlich Securities. She follows both Approach
and EOG in the play."

Also as to the company's website noting that the pressure isn't as great as it is on other nearby plays, Approach seem to thinks that's a plus.
More quotes:

"But...the highly fractured nature of the rock
diminishes the drainage pattern, Approach dis-
covered. “The rock is so fractured that it’s al-
most impossible to get out an effective distance
of more than five to seven acres per well with a
frac job,” he deduces. “It’s clear you’re not re-
covering a whole lot of reserves.”"

"Because the Wolfcamp is normal pressured,
unlike other commercial shale plays that are
overpressured, Approach pumps slickwater flu-
ids over gels in its completions, believing the
gel plugs off the complex fractures. “You don’t
have the temperature and pressure to break
down the gel,” says Craft. It has also tightened
stages to 250 feet to reduce stimulation gaps
based on microseismic.
Now, “We believe we have enough data for
the B bench to turn it to development,” Yang
says."


If Molopo are down ramping their own acreage, then they are failing us shareholders.
Cheers