The following is an excerpt of the first paragraph of my post of...

The following is an excerpt of the first paragraph of my post of 2 December 2019 on this platform:-

"I attended the AGM determined to find out when the company would be likely to commence paying dividends. I didn’t get to ask my question as somebody managed to sneak it in when the Chairman called for questions on the Financial Statements. The reply was around eighteen months which I took to mean after taking possession of Bauna. The Board’s stated priorities are firstly to pay down some of the debt, then to carry out the works at Bauna required to increase production incl. connecting the Patola reservoir to production, installation of the ESPs etc and then to start paying dividends"

As we now know, the deal to purchase Bauna from PBR was subsequently renegotiated such that the need to take out debt to purchase Bauna was not necessary. Therefore, the BOD's statement about paying down that debt is no longer an issue. Nonetheless, I do acknowledge that debt funding is required for the capital works program.

Whilst I do not have the expectation that a dividend will be declared from this last years profits, based on the comment at that AGM, I wouldn't be surprised if they did declare one, especially when you take into account how strong the oil price has been. A 5 cps dividend would cost the company $28 mm which can easily be managed from cash flow, would not jeopardise the capital works program and would IMO be a positive for the share price.

Your expectation of a dividend is significantly influenced by how long you have held the stock and if you have contributed to capital raisings. As a long term holder who has significantly taken part in the last capital raising and an earlier one, I have a strong expectation that the company will start rewarding me sooner than later. On that basis I expect to see a dividend by the 2021/2022 reporting season.