Ascent Resources Share Discussion Threads

[dodge_city] 12/4/2021 13:14

Sounds like they are going to come up with a new scam to get some cash.

[terminator101] 12/4/2021 12:58

Another amazing update huh

[chinese investor] 08/4/2021 12:24

Ascent's gas is currently going to Croatia !

[johncasey] 08/4/2021 12:22

slovenia had its coldest april temperature for over 100 years..i bet they glad theyve got ascents gas now

[epo001] 05/4/2021 13:35

CI, we appreciate these nuggets but citing the source would help. Note that AST are clients of the people who put their name to this, and who are also the largest shareholder, they advise you to interpret this as a marketing communication.

[chinese investor] 02/4/2021 15:03

A week or so ago, Ascent reported news from the Government of Slovenia that it had failed to set forward a damages proposal and confirmed that an amicable settlement wasn’t achievable at this time.

This means that Ascent will be moving ahead to commence arbitration proceedings shortly.

At this juncture, it should be pointed out that as part of direct pre-arbitration settlement discussions the company had submitted a damages calculation to the State which was well in excess of €100 million – so we are talking about big bucks here.

It was in July 2020 that Ascent formally notified the Government of Slovenia of the existence of disputes under both the UK-Slovenia Bilateral Investment Treaty and the Energy Charter Treaty.

Basically, issuing such a Notice of Dispute triggers a mandatory minimum three month ‘cooling-off’ period, which is designed to allow the parties to try and resolve their dispute ahead of arbitration proceedings.

Ninety days later, in late-October 2020, the company announced that it was entering into direct negotiations with the Slovenian government, with a view to potentially settling the claim in an amicable manner (which we see to be important language).

In late-February 2021 the State asked Ascent to delay initiating arbitration proceedings until 19th March 2021.

Well, this might be disappointing, but the company has been highly consistent in setting out the roadmap/newsflow concerning Slovenia.

The latest couple of presentations have clearly shown the plan to bring pre-arbitration settlement talks to a head in Q1 2021.

The funding of international arbitration claims has been well dealt in a past RNS, but sensibly the board did not progress litigation funding talks while these amicable discussions were ongoing with the Slovenian government or they might receive a large unnecessary bill.

So, as we see it, Ascent is continuing to pursue its well-flagged strategy of moving to initiate international arbitration proceedings in Q2 2021.

International arbitration is a well-defined process with a structure that the Slovenian government must take part in.

A lot of this case seems to be about the speed that Slovenia responds to these deadlines and perhaps now an amicable settlement can be reached by stick rather than by carrot.

The truth is that Slovenia has a track record of settling when these cases move into arbitration.

It must also be remembered that Ascent is no longer a one project company.

The new management team at the helm has worked quickly to bring in rapidly expanding interests in Cuban onshore oil along with an expected move into the ESG metals space.

Joe Biden might have taken over the Presidency of the USA in a somewhat quiet fashion, but his victory looks set to ease Cuban sanctions.

Biden had been promising a new Cuba policy and on the campaign trial he really highlighted his ambitions to promote human rights in Cuba and empower that country’s people to determine their own future.

It has to be said that Cuba represents one of the few remaining world-class yet largely unexploited hydrocarbon systems.

In this country, the company has a highly compelling opportunity which includes six separate PSCs spread across four blocks which cover some 7,000km².

Entry into Cuba has tremendous potential in our view and looks like Ascent is on the verge of being awarded operator status.

Once that is in place, it looks as though the market might really begin to learn about the size of the prize in the vast onshore licence area where Ascent is negotiating access to a highly prospective area of Cuba.

At the moment, Ascent have teams doing desk top studies on these licence areas for the field development plan.

Last month saw Ascent adding the prospect of ESG Metals as a new target sector within its resource focused business.

ESG Metals is all about secondary mining and recovery opportunities which are consistent with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles.

So here we are talking about the reprocessing of tailings where it is thought that revenue could be generated within 4-9 months of getting involved.

The big attraction of such ESG Metals is that these retreating tailings projects often come with extensive infrastructure.

This is already a big sunk cost (so low capex) and of course low geological/mining risks because the material has already been mined and there are often decent records of what has gone onto the tailings pile or into the tailings dam.

Due to the history of Cuba over the last 50-70 years, the country has only had rudimentary processing technology and so there is apparently an abundance of tailings opportunities which could be at some quite decent grades.

Apparently, the team is already sieving through projects in a variety of places including Latin America and Europe.

Top of the list seem to be opportunities in gold, silver, platinum, base metals and ferrochrome, because here there are powerful economics with the chance of production costs being in the lowest quartile from sustainable metal production from legacy mining tailings.

We already know that the board has signed several new non-binding letters of intent in the battery metals mining space with either vehicles owned or backed by the Cuban government.

At this stage it is worth noting that Cuba has the fifth largest nickel resources in the world.

We initiated coverage on Ascent with a Conviction Buy stance and a target price of 18.34p in mid-September 2020 when the shares were trading at 3.25p.

That target price was solely based on possible Petišovci scenarios where we looked at the two alternative scenarios of either litigation or development, with both outcomes being thoroughly risked.

The stock was merrily sitting at above the 10p mark but since the update on the Slovenian direct settlement discussions it has been under pressure, which we see as a renewed buying opportunity and as evidenced by our moving back above 10% last week.

[terminator101] 29/3/2021 15:36

Maybe parsons should rename this descent resources

[dodd5y] 28/3/2021 11:57

Isn't the date of that the first week of March?

[johncasey] 28/3/2021 09:55

climbing sources...lol!

Slovenia: Climbing Sources seeking more than 100m euros in compensation

[chinese investor] 28/3/2021 07:59

Here it is :-

[dodd5y] 27/3/2021 22:20

Where was this article published please, I cannot find it online

[wrestlingmad] 27/3/2021 10:54

The press has nearly always been right in the past.

My understanding is that this forms part of the claim due to Slovenia being a leaky ship...for example the declined permits were leaked days before release and claim refusal leaked days before release.

I interpret this press release as AST (lawyers) were happy to take €25m and that’s where Align possibly got their numbers from.

If Slovenia refused this and the alternative was a 120m arbitration payout plus legal costs...it makes you wonder the strength of their defence based on the risk/reward for them as they will now start incurring legal costs.

IMO Clifford Chance and their consulted ‘experts’; must be confident that they have a case for Slovenia.

I am more inclined to believe this press release is based on recent events and not the current situation.

[chinese investor] 27/3/2021 09:31

British company Ascent Resources had major gas extraction plans in Prekmurje years ago.

These did not materialise, because together with its Slovenian partner, The Company Geoenergo owned by Petrol, they never got a permit to extract gas by using the fracking method in a field in Petišovci.

The British have been threatening to sue using the International Court of Arbitration since last year.

They are now demanding €120 million in compensation from the Slovenian state, according to the information.


Meanwhile, in strict secrecy, talks are already underway on a possible settlement.

The British represented by lawyer Miro Senica have been pressing for a deal in recent weeks.

The lawsuit for alleged economic damage and the loss of planned revenues is ready to be withdrawn if Slovenia pays them around 25 million euros.

The opportunity to earn at the expense of the Slovenian state has already been missed by speculators, who were buying larger packages of Ascent Resources shares in recent months due to information about a possible settlement.

Official information on talks between the country and the British cannot be obtained.

"As negotiations with the search for a negotiated solution to the dispute are still ongoing, we are unable to answer your questions regarding the amount, the date of filing of the claim, the expected date of the decision and the conduct of the Republic of Slovenia at this stage of the procedure"
they explained at the State Attorney General's Office, which represents the Republic of Slovenia in the case.



But behind the scenes, it's been tumultuous for weeks.

As they have been informally known, the settlement proposal is strongly opposed by the international law firm Clifford Chance, which was hired by the state attorney general to assist in the case.

In their legal opinion, the British people's chances of success in the Court of Arbitration were deemed poor.

According to the foreign lawyers, they failed to prove the alleged breaches of the Energy Charter Treaty and the investment agreement with Great Britain, which are the basis for bringing the action.

Officials from a special group, which prepares professional bases in environmental and mining law, international law and other fields, are also of the same opinion.

However, there have been signals from the Slovenian government recently that possible settlements cannot be excluded.

On the 11th of February, Janez Janše appointed a coordinator to report to her on what was happening.

The coordinator was Blaž Kohorok, State Secretary at the Ministry of Infrastructure and former first husband of the holding of The Slovenian Power Plant (HSE).

The government has not informed the public.

Kohorok declined to comment on the talks with the British, but did not rule out the possibility of a settlement.

Why not if Slovenia has an opinion of an international law firm on its desk, which strongly advises against it?

"The process is ongoing.
He's run by the state attorney general on our side.
Slovenia has hired domestic and foreign experts working on the matter.
In any case, the possible international consequences must also be considered before making a decision,"
Kosher said.

His words could be confirmed by unofficial information that there is also strong diplomatic pressure behind the scenes.

What is his personal position on the deal with the British, Kosher refused to disclose.

Kohorok denies knowing about the British offer before the official appointment.



A year ago, though, it seemed that the British were in a lost position.

The value of Ascent Resources shares has reached rock bottom due to a failure to obtain gas extraction licences in Prekmurje.

The management of the company, which for some time did not have the money, was replaced, nor did it bring a lawsuit against Slovenia.

But then there was a turnaround.

Last spring, a €3 million lawsuit was brought by Ascent Resources to help an unidentified financier who has not been revealed by the British to date.

The company then hired a London law firm to inform the Slovenian government of its intention to file a lawsuit in July last year.

In October, Ascent Resources announced that they had begun negotiating a friendly settlement with the Republic of Slovenia directly.

At the same time, new owners entered the company.

A share package was thus purchased by Spreadex which is a sports betting company.

Other shareholders also noted that it was a speculative purchase.

The only way for new shareholders to earn their input is a settlement agreement in Slovenia.

In the meantime, the demands of the British people have increased sharply.

On the same day that the government appointed Kosher as coordinator on 11 February, it received a new damage assessment from Ascent Resources.

It was commissioned by the economist Aleš Ahčan and Mitja Slevec of CSA svetovanje, which in the last year generated 115,000 euros of transactions with public contracting authorities, most of which were air traffic control of Slovenia and HSE (even at the time it was led by Stojan Nikolić).

In a document labelled "confidential", Ahčan and Slevec found that the British had around €50 million in costs by investing in Slovenia and suffered a further 70 million lost profits.

In total, they had €120 million in damages.

Kohorok denies knowing about the British offer before the official appointment, according to sources Necenzurirano.si.

But he confirmed that he had been in contact with Miro Senica.

"I thought it was right to inform him of his appointment as coordinator.
I have informed both the state attorneys general and minister Jerneja Vrtovc of this,"
Kosher stressed.

Just days after the British sent an assessment of the damage to the government, individuals on British online forums apparently knew more.

They said Ascent Resources is on track to enter into a settlement in Slovenia, which will bring in around £20 million to the company, around €23 million.

That's very close to the number from Mira Senica's proposal.

Sources Necenzurirano.si that the British people want to increase the pressure on the Slovenian side with inflated damage valuations.

In their assessment, Ahčan and Slevec took into account the expected revenues of Ascent Resources in Petišovci for the next 20 years, even though that company would not have been the holder of the concession at all but would have been owned by its partner, Geoenergo, owned by Petrol.

This was contracted with Ascent Slovenia, which is registered in Malta and is owned by British Ascent Resources.

The British have still not provided clear evidence of how much money they have invested in the revival of gas wells in Pomurje.

In any case, they will have to do so in the international court of arbitration.


Their main argument in the lawsuit is alleged political interference by the Slovenian Government in proceedings at the Environment Agency.

As is well known, the former Minister for Environment and Spatial Planning, Jure Leben, has already faced a coup by the board of Ascent Resources in November 2018 for introducing extraordinary controls on the extraction of gas extraction licences in Petišovci.

The Environment Agency had already issued a preliminary opinion a few months earlier that Geoenergo and Ascent Resources should have carried out an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Their decision was also upheld by the Administrative Court last year.

[mrzippo] 26/3/2021 17:59

YES COS THATS WHAT THEY DO ISNT IT?

[johncasey] 26/3/2021 17:58

slovenians want a few more shares before they make the deal..that way they can pay the compensation to ascent without costing them much

[thetoonarmy2] 26/3/2021 16:39

IF ALIGN IS ADDING THEY MUST KNOW SOMETHING

[epo001] 26/3/2021 09:54

6896: posted to lots of groups, irreleveant to all of them. Filtered.

[abeygale] 26/3/2021 08:36

This is another Oxus Gold and Churchill Mining all over again.

[doc robinson] 26/3/2021 07:48

Align adding hence the rise yesterday

[chinese investor] 25/3/2021 16:24

I would welcome an RNS stating Slovenia would not object to International Arbitration.

[johncasey] 25/3/2021 14:44

Anyone seen this over on FB Sou page ??

Liquefied gas in Tendrara: for $ 25 million, Italfluid will operate the site.

The announcement is now official. Italfluid Geoenergy will be responsible for the design, construction, commissioning, and operation and maintenance of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. The Italian company will work for the English group Sound Energy and will be accompanied by the Moroccan consulting firm Sinmarco.

$ 25 million: This is the investment set for the construction and operation of a liquefied gas (LNG) production unit in Tendrara, Figuig province.

The realization of this unit, learns Le3gram0 from informed sources, has been entrusted by the English group Sound Energy, holder of the Tendrara Reservoir Licence, according to the Hydrocarbon Code, to the Italian company Italfluid.

According to sources contacted by the media, Sinmarco consulting firm, which is headed by Ahmed Fouad El Filali, has been chosen to accompany the realization of this project.

The project entrusted to the Italians will be funded by US Bank Exim Bank, Italian Simest and other Moroccan banks.

Sinmarco will have to provide legal, tax and financial assistance throughout the project and operation of the LNG production unit.

The project is planned for 18 months and the gas production unit itself will be five years.

Liquefied gas in Tendrara: for $ 25 million, Italfluid will operate the site.

The announcement is now official. Italfluid Geoenergy will be responsible for the design, construction, commissioning, and operation and maintenance of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. The Italian company will work for the English group Sound Energy and will be accompanied by the Moroccan consulting firm Sinmarco.

$ 25 million: This is the investment set for the construction and operation of a liquefied gas (LNG) production unit in Tendrara, Figuig province.

The realization of this unit, learns Le3gram0 from informed sources, has been entrusted by the English group Sound Energy, holder of the Tendrara Reservoir Licence, according to the Hydrocarbon Code, to the Italian company Italfluid.

According to sources contacted by the media, Sinmarco consulting firm, which is headed by Ahmed Fouad El Filali, has been chosen to accompany the realization of this project.

The project entrusted to the Italians will be funded by US Bank Exim Bank, Italian Simest and other Moroccan banks.

Sinmarco will have to provide legal, tax and financial assistance throughout the project and operation of the LNG production unit.

The project is planned for 18 months and the gas production unit itself will be five years.