I've only been invested here for a little over a year, so don't...

I've only been invested here for a little over a year, so don't have as much knowledge about the whole period as someone who's been invested since the Puntland deal was started. It is my understanding that in the early stages they wished to bankrupt Range and so take on the whole of Puntland for themselves. Hence we diversified our portfolio and now this is no longer an option for them.

As for why they've not drilling since signing the extension in 2010- they cited 'security reasons' last year- whether this is a genuine concern or not we don't know, but it's the only reason they gave.

This year they haven't actually said anything about the spud date being postponed yet, much less given a reason for it- we are of course only speculating that there will be a delay, but it does seem likely IMO.

If the security concerns are not genuine then I have no idea what their game is. Perhaps they'd prefer to use drilling funds to explore their other basins first. Perhaps they just want as much of the Puntland prize as possible and so are waiting to take over LEO before moving (while a couple of months delay seems an eternity for some PI's, it is nothing at all to a CEO of a company like AOI if it means an extra 15% of a find will be gained- remember they've already delayed it for 5 years, so another couple of months is nothing). Maybe they do want to drill ASAP, but haven't yet found a drilling contractor (because of ther security concerns they couldn't find a drilling contractor last time round, hence the cancellation in 2010). I've no idea what their true intentions are.

Just have to be patient and see how things unfold, I guess. Everyone should feel comfortable with their ange investment no matter what AOI do, due to our high CoS figures in Georgia and the imminent campaign there.