Whisky....yeah so many irons in the fire and so little capital to work with. It's a shame that Michael Evans capitulated to FLOW after the Kora CSEM fiasco and gave FAR away. Cath Norman did a great job for FLOW holders and Michael after positioning FAR so well in Senegal IMO just left the building. I posted at the time I thought FLOW took over FAR. Main focus was on Kenya and apart from some limited success at Sunbird Kenya offshore has not yet delivered.
This left FAR's Senegal swinging in he breeze after Shell & Ophir both walked. Hunt had also walked and it's probably a shock to some of the newbies but Shell was also there before Hunt. CN then did a great job for FAR holders, as she did for Flow holders and managed to get a JV signed with COP and CNE to save and drill Senegal. Cath Norman's negotiating prowess is undoubtedly on a different level to Michael Evans.
IMO though the problem we now face is that to get the JV deal done FAR's Senegal stake went from 90% to 15%. With such significant finds, even though the potential volume of the find is huge, FAR's small 15% stake limit's it's ability to reduce it's interests within the JV group for future free carry to production as their remaining reduced stake may not give justifiable returns. FAR management indeed need to raise capital while keeping the maximum stake in Senegal to give shareholders a decent return. I think this is why GR was employed. FARJOY touched on this also but as yet we have not seen any innovative ways of raising capital without eroding the base put on the table by them, unless FARJOY played a role with the hiring of GR.
I'm confident FAR now have the team to do this and if it means some further dilution while maintaining the current stake to get us through the next appraisal and exploration phase I'm all for it. If we can get SNE-1 to commercial status and maybe more success at Buried Hill then I think the SP "will look after itself"
Hardmano I agree with your logic on GB it's just the timing of this renewed interest I find intriguing. Svenska has production activities in Angola and the Ivory Coast. Exploration activities are focused on West Africa and the Norwegian Continental Shelf. With the high production costs of the Norwegian Shelf and current POO maybe it's Svenska driving GB now after FAR's Senegal success. Svenska also have very deep pockets and with the high crude prices over the last several years there has been no urgency for them to push GB's potential. Low POO and FAR's Senegal Success may have changed this.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/28/oil-europe-investment-idUSL4N0SM3Y420141028
Just my thoughts and be good to hear others
Cheers
Plugged
PDYOR
(20min delay)