Well it was a interesting couple of days and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Spoke with many people and I must say it is a very interesting time for O/G coy's and in particular the loved Perth Basin. Plenty of upside for EGO if certain things change, most people enjoyed Ken's presentation and many have said to me a year of missed opportunities and set backs. Everyone agreed the consolidation was too big and has done exactly the reversed of what they attended to do. Basically it failed but is here to stay and we have to suck it up. But in time if we aggressively drill and with success we will be in a better position going forward.
Eddy Rig from Argonaut opened the conference with a passionate and enlightening speech. He personally slammed Origin and Santos. It was a well run conference by Argonaut, full of interesting and wonderful people and the key points are this.
- Dom Gas shortage
- Gas will increase in price over the next 2-3 yrs which is great for EGO $10 GJ potential
- Lowest time for exploration costs and drilling, huge potential and upside, no one drilling and the time is now.
- Perfect time for MA, Banks tightening but keen to support good cases.
- Eastern states gas shortage and WA is huge gas consumer and huge potential in Perth
- Those who have an aggressive drilling program 2017 will benefit, well EGO needs to get moving.
- His exciting coys to watch are FAR, CVN and AWE for 2017, shame EGO was not on the radar, but we all know why that is. Hopefully next year we will have a very different story to tell.
Unfortunately on this thread I can not go into all the other companies who presented as it could be considered ramping. Will focus on EGO as I should.
I had many conversations with Ken, Phil, Stuart and Milton throughout the conference on day 1. It was great to again speak to them as it had been a while. They were all very approachable and engaging. EGO had a booth in the prime location done this well as they were situated right at the front. Hopefully they found a farmin interest. Had a very interesting conversation with Milton, very impressed with him, he is our Geo man and along with Patten I must say that it one area of our team we do have right. We have some very exciting areas to drill. I was very encouraged by the true potential in Lockyer/North Erregulla EP368, plenty of excitement with neighbour AWE Waitsia, this field is absolutely huge 630Bcf of which we will be rewarded once we finally actually drill. But was even more excited by what the recent Black Swan survey highlighted at the EP432 to the north of Raven this is very exciting and again strengthens our potential. Milton is very excited by this, you can see this area on page 19 of announcement.
Now for the GOC presentation presented by Ken. on day 1 late afternoon. Interesting to note that the morning presentations was packed, I think 500 people turned up. After lunch was a struggle for some as the room was significantly reduced by interested people. What was very encouraging was when EGO presentation came on. The room was packed again. Ken did his best to present and imo struggles to communicate with the excitement of previous MD's on the conference. However went through the slide show and it was well received by most. I sat at the back at listened to many people who said it was a good presentation, which was good. I will say this Ken is very well respected by the industry, many people commented to me regarding Ken. Unfortunately been a horrid year for Ken and with his contract not signed yet. I hope they do sign him up again as I do personally support Ken. He is a hard worker and a very cautious and professional person. Not the best salesman for the O/G industry but is highly motivated and well liked.
During the presentation Ken went through the normal key aspects but I had to laugh at one point. Especially after listening to many previous companies who all had significant board ownership of shares around the 25-45% mark. Ken came on and said EGO has 8.5% of Board and Management owning shares. I had a chuckle to myself and said to them all afterwards what a crock, Phil has 6.9% so that leaves our whole board and senior management team with a pathetic 1.6% basically 160000 shares. This point angers me and is very disrespectful for the holders and sends a very poor message to all the other industry professionals, many comments about this point was expressed to me. It sends a very poor message when they are so desperate to find a farmin. This message is loud and clear and if our Board and Management do not support us by owning shares then how on earth can they sell our story to the market, it just is a very bad look. They urgently need to pull there finger out on this point. Even had one director say to me you don't understand individuals financial position, I just was shocked, absolutely unbelievable to hear a director couldn't afford to buy any shares on the lowest ever SP for EGO, seriously it is an unbelievable comment and things have to change.
Now the dreaded RGN saga. I know exactly what went wrong with this. But considering it's day 1 for me on HC will not go into it. Yes this well was concerning for us and the set back is costly both in money and time frame of our drilling proposed plans. Unfortunate set back, it's unfortunate and we all have to accept and move on. I am very confident after speaking to the drilling company MD's and other industry tech drillers and of course Ken that we will be successful. Hopefully good xmas pressy for us all. This well isn't huge but will have 7.5 PJ and oil rich will keep our cash flowing. This does however strengthen our balance sheet and the hub, injecting a surplus and production 10TJ day. It is essential to remediate this and will assist in our funding for Lockyer.
Now for Lockyer I had long conversation with Ken and said once RGN done we need 8 Million to do Lockyer. We will get cash for increased gas from our production hub/contracts etc. However Ken is concerned by lack of Farmin, they have almost had 2 so far, but obviously the well has caused some issues. I frankly said, you need to get the DMP approval process started now and commit to drill in Jan/Feb 2017. This is critical as if they do this then a successful Lockyer will be the catalyst for securing a farmin partner if this is their priority. $8Mil is bugger all and if they are short then do a cap raise and get on with it. I hate dilution but hate the pathetic SP more. Seriously understand that Lockyer is more important as it opens up several opportunities for getting us out of the mess we are in. No more waffle by EGO on this, do it and do it now. Procrastination time is over, action is urgently needed. I do expect to see the ball moving with DMP and a date of drilling. Board please do this by end of next week. This well alone will get EGO up and moving on many fronts then alone the SP, RGN will not have a huge impact for our SP, simple as that imo.
Well that's the GOC in summary. I will over the next few days go into MIN, Farmins, Origin, the drilling funding and action plan for 2017 and of course the boards structure from my perspective of what we have to do for us to be a market leader in the Perth Basin and how EGO can be successful and finally unlock bloody value for SH's. Have a great day to all.
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