Well Anthony Eastman said last November that work could begin within the month after the acquisition was finalised (at that point Monitor were taking 90% of course).
Let's call it 3 months as nothing ever happens on time around here. Even so, we should be seeing work in the nearish future assuming AE was correct.
As for the project being an insurance policy- well it is in a way, but it's an insurance policy for all shareholders. The insurance is that if drilling in Georgia doesn't go so well initially, we'll have increasing production from Trinidad to ensure the SP isn't hit too hard and with the cash flow we can fund future wells.
I don't think there'd be a mass exodus on a spud delay. Remember RRS have already delayed it twice (from March to April, then from April to May) and there weren't big exits then. I will admit it's getting a tiny bit annoying that the timescale for that has proven to be months out, but the management seem to have always had this problem and it's not going to change. And in fairness it's not like they've been sat there doing nothing the past couple of months, I imagine the Trinidad deal took quite a lot of time up.
Plus there's still the possibility of the Colombia acquisition. Maybe it's an unfounded rumour, maybe not- but to be fair the Financial Times got the ?20m placing at 17p bang on the mark, and also called the 100% Trinidad acquisition one day before it was announced, so they've been accurate so far (the FT comment is where the Colombia rumour started).
I'm sure Georgia will proceed at some point, though I wouldn't like to give an exact date (or even an exact month). The fact Edeco have advertised for drilling personnel says it's going ahead, and there's no reason it shouldn't- we've got the funding, RMP have their funding, there's no political problems stopping us- we just need the green light.
RRS Price at posting:
30.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
