Ann: Trading Halt, page-89

Have been digesting this since breaking and firstly, an apology to those who I suggested to stop questioning WDS's direction. Admittedly, I had pencilled in their involvement or at least holding a portion as a super major farmed in and took operatorship. Am not sure whether WDS will provide any rationale or even make an ann to the market. Doesn't matter really, they can now sod off.

In any event, we now have a set of circumstances with which to move forward. Initially, I expect the SP to drop somewhat given expectations of WDS farming in. Am I concerned about that? No and Sintana's release (and PCL's today I'd say) explains why.

• "A process is underway to secure an alternate farm-in partner to fund exploration drilling within PEL 87 at the earliest opportunity." This process would have begun long ago as part of contingency planning. Iain alluded to this in the webinar last year.
• We have a high quality 6,593 sq km 3D seismic dataset that we didn't pay a cent for. Furthermore, analysis indicates "intra-Saturn leads and prospects which are estimated to be consistent in size and scale to the discoveries made to date in the Orange Basin."
• “We look forward to deploying our portfolio of relationships with operators including the supermajors to bring forward the potential of PEL 87,” said Knowledge Katti, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Custos and a director of Sintana...a significant inventory of leads and prospects, position the PEL 87 partners to expedite farm-in discussions,” added Robert Bose, CEO of Sintana."

If anything, it sounds to me that a roadblock (i.e. WDS) has now been removed and the super major can now deal directly with the existing JV partners to move things forward more quickly. Perhaps drilling will now actually occur sooner than had WDS farmed in, which is only positive for us.

Lastly, the deal that we had with WDS. Some have questioned whether we got the best deal, that perhaps we had to sign on at the time given licence requirements and the fact that it was pre-Mopane discoveries. We were left with only 20%, which may have dropped to 10% for a second drill. Well, all of that is out the window now and as it stands, we continue to hold 75% of PEL 87. We have a 3D survey and could potentially bring in a super major with a much better deal than the WDS one, plus they will likely drill sooner. That, and the resource estimates, are what matter and why I won't be selling a single share based on the WDS exit alone. Good luck to all and remember, we need to have a well drilled by January - a super major without the WDS road block can certainly do it.