There seems to be lots of anxiety swirling about in relation to the current share price, ongoing funding, etc which is understandable. Important to remember a few things though:
1) IVZ still has an 80% interest here. Had a partner been brought in as a funding option early on rather than the numerous CR’s that have taken place then that ownership percentage would be considerably lower.
2) IVZ has managed to declare an official discovery after drilling only two wells. Some oilers drill dozens of wells at incredible cost and still fail to make a discovery. Not such a bad outcome here for IVZ when viewed in that context.
3) Q2 next year will see the commencement/completion of flow testing to determine whether the hydrocarbons, already confirmed as moveable, will be able to be extracted in commercially viable quantities. If this is shown to be the case, then IVZ will be in a much stronger position to negotiate terms for the onboarding of a financial partner, if they choose to do so. A successful flow test should also positively impact the share price as will bring significant de-risking.
4) IVZ plans to fast track commerciality of gas to power, with the aim of minimising time to monetisation. How long this takes remains to be seen but at least it’s part of the conversation, and would come with the full support of the Zim govt and industry.
None of this should come as a revelation to anyone here. It just seems to me that focusing on short term share price movements, and making assumptions that current CR funding arrangements will prevail indefinitely, is a rather naive and shortsighted assessment of the situation which ignores not only what the company has managed to achieve so far, but also the short to medium term potential catalysts which will underpin any future success the company may enjoy.
IVZ Price at posting:
12.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
