I think we are all forgetting something rather important here:...

I think we are all forgetting something rather important here: Melbana (AP and his team) are only contributing 30% of costs to this well, with Sonangol contributing the other 70%. It is highly likely, therefore, that Sonangol would need to be consulted prior to any major deviation to the drill plan, or any addition to the program (such as an additional sidetrack into Marti). Weighing that up, Sonangol may be more keen - as too may CUPET - to see Alameda flowing, as opposed to some Indiana Jones expedition into Marti.

The concept of preparing to run DST3 and DST4 may include seeking and obtaining the green light from Sonangol, and this could easily add several days to the timeline, thus the expectation that this is a simple "lets move the drill string up and test that upper zone" exercise may be slightly understating what is required.

My five cents worth - AP wants to shoot for Marti, but knows full well that it will require approval from Sonangol, thus the team is moving up to Alameda as planned whilst AP scrambles to see if and when it is possible to retest Marti. It may be totally out of his hands.

On a related topic - I spotted another rather silly comment on one of these threads about the need to consolidate and capital raise. We need to keep in mind that the current program is fully funded (the company's words, which have been repeated several times), and that MAY is only contributing 30% to the current drill costs. The "$50 million" number thrown around by someone on these threads (which would imply a rather sizeable dilution) is the stuff of fantasies as it would fund an entire drill program (several wells) without contribution from a partner (Sonangol). So anyone subscribing to that camp needs to have a long hard look at themselves (and I dare, say, the rest of us need to put them immediately on ignore).

Would like to hear opinions from others (not the 50 million lad) about Sonangol's role in this, and whether this could indeed see some further delays in the current drill. Do we need to adjust our expectations slightly?

TIA

Kit.