I'm just as pissed off by the price as the next guy. The selling seems irrational and there is never a good time to lose money. Its an emotional ride but we need to make logical decisions and deal with the emotionals.
It seems to me that its important to identify cause and effect rather than just grab the nearest stick and beat management with it. Its times like this they need our support rather than just being barrated. There is enough people on Yahoo to do that by the sound of things. I'm not saying we should be unconditionally positive about everything but constructive criticism is more useful.
As I said, delays in the Bakken have been an ongoing theme but the end results have always been good. Surely it is that end result that counts rather than which day, week or month the oil starts flowing. SSN have a pretty good track record over the last couple of years with reguard to outcomes but these outcomes are invariably hard fought. Its my view that this is the nature of the beast. Like you I'd love it if there were no delays but that isn't my expectation.
I'm sure Terry and the team are doing all they can to get the 3rd party crews onsite but there is a backlog of jobs for the fracking crews and we simply have to wait our turn. Not sure what SSN can do about it.
Could I ask you to cast you eye back over the announcements re Earl a few months back. You will note that the frac job encountered significant technical problems due to the drill string parting and a fishing trip being required to recover it. This no doubt meant that the frac crew were on SSNs site significantly longer than planned. I'm sure this meant that they were late for their next job, and the one after that etc. Technical issues have a cascading impact as we saw ourselves.
Now would we have appreciated it if on the scheduled frac completion date the crew got up that morning, packed up their stuff (minus the the bottom hole assembly which was still down the hole) and said "Time's up. Got to go to the next job now" ? Obviously we expected them to stay until the job was finished and for the next client to wait.
I also believe that SSN is only a small client for the fracking and drilling companies compared to some of the bigger operators and SSN has to compete for resources against these larger companies. No doubt this means we struggle to get the priority that some of their larger clients get. Again, to a certain extent this might be something that we have to live with for now.
When Terry gives us an update he tells us when something is scheduled to happen because that is what we demand to know. Obviously if delays occur in getting 3rd parties onsite then he can only tell us that once he know himself.
I know that it sounds like I'm defending them but that isn't really what I'm trying to do. I just ask if you really think that these delays are truely avoidable given some of the reasons known to contribute to them ?
Also I don't believe that the delays on Everett have anything whatsoever to do with the fall in the share price over the last week and thus I thought that your emotional response to the share price slide lost focus when you picked up and started swinging the Everett stick. I share your frustration, just not the recipient of your blame.
I also haven't seem too much blaming of manipulators here on HC in recent days as you have alluded to. Most here just seem baffled by the recent price movement. There was no doubt some odd trades before the slide but I think the panic has just taken on a life of its own.
All the above said there is some upside. Everett will almost certainly produce oil by early Jan. Its possible that SoA would do so also. If Defender's crazy pump does the trick then your emotions could quickly turn to tears of joy and this pendulum appears to have swung to its maximum amplitude and a little note from Galileo tells me that gravity is likely to drag its ass back towards the equalibrium position.
Good luck with your recent purchase. If I didn't have an endless list of upcoming commitments I would be buying more now also.
SSN Price at posting:
8.3¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
