Sirius Petroleum Share Discussion Threads

[bronislav] 01/8/2016 08:04

Sherlock .i would speculate that guarantee was well aware that they would be no longer involved with ororo a long time ago and all these issues were part of the original plan..A normal company would issue an rns to clarify to its shareholders the situation thus addressing any concerns that shareholders may have but I am not optimistic that this will happen.

[sherl0ck] 01/8/2016 07:57

Why would the Federal Government issue a marginal field licence to an operator that owes so much tax? (4.2bn Naira and six times the amount owed by Taleveras, a much larger O&G conglomerate). GP clearly wouldn't have been suddenly hit with a tax bill very recently and ordered to pay immediately.

The info I provided yesterday showed that another Nigerian company that was part of the recent cull was issued with two separate payment reminders after the initial notification. Then followed a demand notice and thereafter a final notice, all of which were ignored. It was only after the expiration of the one month window following the final notice that the company was forcibly shut down.

Even if the Authorities only became aware of the tax issue after the field licence application was submitted and thereafter issued (unlikely), why wouldn't they immediately revoke it or make it conditional on tax payment? Why allow the $0.5m fee payment? Why approve the EIA? How has Sirius not been discredited by aligning with a tax-defaulting operator? How exactly did the stated negotiations between the partners and FMPR conclude (referenced in RNS 12/7/16) with this huge elephant in the room?

[htrocka2] 31/7/2016 16:25

'Could a huge chunk of that GP money have gone into block preparations. No obligation for Sirius to report anything'?


Putting myself in Guarantees position and going down this particular road, if this was the case, I'd make sure I had a large chunk of SRSP shares first.

Following the above scenario... which one (or more) of these Nominees belong to Guarantee Petroleum?

Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers Ltd.
as of 02 Jul 2016
176.32m 9.34%

Barclays Bank Plc (Private Banking)
as of 29 Nov 2015
125.83m 6.67%

TD Direct Investing (Europe) Ltd.
as of 02 Jul 2016
111.66m 5.91%

Jarvis Investment Management Ltd.
as of 02 Jul 2016
79.73m 4.22%

Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Ltd.
as of 02 Jul 2016
63.06m 3.34%

The Share Centre Ltd.
as of 02 Jul 2016
28.24m 1.50%

Credit Suisse AG
as of 02 Jul 2016
26.57m 1.41%

HSBC Bank Plc (Market-Maker)
as of 02 Jul 2016
25.63m 1.36%

HSBC Global Asset Management (UK) Ltd.
as of 02 Jul 2016
20.65m 1.09%

Winterflood Securities Ltd. (Market-Maker)
as of 02 Jul 2016
20.59m 1.09%

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 16:08

The 3 partners were not without cash, far from it. Could a huge chunk of that GP money have gone into block preparations. No obligation for Sirius to report anything. Final move is for GP to make an undignified exit whilst its owners move across to take stakes in the new Sirius-Owena set-up holding 100% of Ororo, with Sirius becoming the new operator. Then bring in the jv with Schumb.

[bronislav] 31/7/2016 15:30

Maybe guarantee were always meant to ride off into the sunset but not before Any monies were put to good use.It seemed strange that guarantee were prepared to give up some of their percentage with Owena picking up more.Does the end justify the means.

It's like a six year long episode of hollyoaks or should it be called oilyoaks

[htrocka2] 31/7/2016 15:19

I know what they didn't do with it...

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 15:17

So what did GP do with $200m?

[bronislav] 31/7/2016 15:13

Begs the question how long Sirius and partners and potential partners were aware of guarantees problems.Did the guarantee issue play a part in any delays and the reason that the licence has only recently been granted.The guarantee uncertainty could have played a huge part in any funder ,jv partner being serious about involvement.We now have a licence ,EIA,permits to drill,a novel way of capturing the gas ,another percentage possibly in ororo to sort out ,an offer on the table from a service provider ,new CPR/FDP ,an extremely well respected consultant,a finance director used to dealing in large revenues ,talk of distressed assets.links to ondo state and their 100% state owned oil vehicle Owena oil and gas.A country desperate for gas,and an Agm with as yet no date.

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 14:48

Oil swap cargoes were bringing in big profits for NNPC-authorised traders such as Taleveras, Aiteo, Sahara, Trafigura. Can we add GP to the list?

Sirius-Taglient was part of the refined petroleum import side of the deal, but stopped trading 3 years ago. FGN was subsidising the business, but a scam was exposed. importers were vastly inflating the figures to claim the subsidy.



Easy to see now how Cos like Talev and Aiteo were able to submit big bids for recent IOC divests. They'd been racking up huge profits over the past 6 years trading oil and not declaring for tax purposes. T-A successfully bid $2.7bn to take Shell's OPL29.

GP-Sirius-Owena partners seemingly could never raise just $15m to get Ororo moving. The money has been there all along.

Article reveals the tax rate as 6%. If GP was trading these swaps, they'll have made over $200m profit in order to incur a $13m tax liability.

[htrocka2] 31/7/2016 13:46

I'm not sure if it was more luck than judgment that we made an off take deal with BTG Pactual as opposed to Talveras......(who have offices, virtually in Berkley Square)

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 13:37

Taleveras caught up in the FIRS sting. Tax evasion scam involving crude oil swaps. T was owing $66m. Is this the same game GP was playing?

[htrocka2] 31/7/2016 13:33

Nov 3 2015

Sirius Petroleum announced that Guarantee Petroleum, has received approval to drill the proposed Ororo-2A well on the Ororo Field from the Department of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria. The Ororo-2A well is Sirius' first appraisal well in the Ororo Field, and is named according to the chronological number of the drilling sequence for the field. Sirius has been working closely with the DPR and its partners, Guarantee Petroleum and Owena Oil & Gas and, whilst no Marginal Field licences have yet been formally renewed, the Directors believe that the Approval from the DPR confirms that the Partners have met the necessary licence obligations on the asset to allow them to commence operations on the field. The Approval will expire six months from the date of issue, being 26 October 2015, at which point Guarantee must seek revalidation on behalf of the Partners, if drilling has not commenced.



Since then, we've had the Field Licence renewed, the Guarantee tax bill and permit revalidation by 'Guarantee' ?.....With the state of play at the moment the last bit sounds tricky.



ps.. Renewal of the Field licence is conditional on the payment of a Renewal Fee of $500,000 ("Renewal Fee") by no later than 29 July 2016.

presumably this has gone through..

[olufemisudem] 31/7/2016 12:00

There is time for me to buy back in sonic.

Not a problem. I have maybe 4 months yet.

[htrocka2] 31/7/2016 11:58

Just to briefly get back to the Guarantee P tax debt... I note that the Tax Authorities 'shut down' the other company that owed money...maybe 'Guarantee' will put their percentage of Ororo up or sale?......hence the non movement in the field so as not to increase it's value....until the percentage is sold.? (maybe SRSP have been aware of 'Guarantee's' tax liability for some time and are using the situation to their own advantage....remember that only two weeks ago SRSP still referred to 'Guarantee' as a 'partner')

[1sonic] 31/7/2016 11:58

Guarantee was closed down on Wednesday last week so the bod of Srsp surely would have known about this last week.....

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 11:41

Alasdair Scott

Drill Site Manager at Chevron

Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Oil & Energy

Previous

Marathon Oil Company, Schlumberger D&M, Baker Hughes - Exlog

Education

Durham University

Background
Summary

I have 30 years of practical rig-site drilling experience with a wide variety of well types, operator companies, rig types and locations. This includes 7 years experience as a Drilling Supervisor (a mix of both day and night shift), almost all on semi-sub rigs. Work covered offshore drilling, well testing, completion, and onshore management work (to a high technical standard, e.g. horizontal multi-lateral level 5 drilling & completions). I am familiar with operating both in Norway and the UK. I have an understanding of both drilling and geology. Recent significant experience was as senior DS(day) leading a 2-well subsea re-entry/side-track/completion project from a semi-sub rig offshore in the North Sea.Drill Site Manager
Chevron
May 2013 – Present (3 years 3 months)

2013 to present day - Chevron; Drill Site Manager
Drilling Supervisor
Marathon Oil Company
October 2005 – May 2013 (7 years 8 months)

2013 – Marathon Oil; Drilling Supervisor/Engineer (office):
Worked on Equatorial Guinea exploration project, designing 3 sub-sea wildcat wells. Worked on Brae Alpha rig re-activation project.

2012 to 2013 – Marathon Oil; Drilling Supervisor (day & night):
Worked on NCS Alvheim & Volund fields development projects to drill & complete horizontal sub-sea production wells, as previously.
2010 to 2011 – Marathon Oil; Senior Drilling Supervisor (day, senior):
Worked on UKCS West Brae fields infill project to re-enter, sidetrack & complete 2 x sub-sea horizontal oil production wells from a semi-sub rig. Good safety performance achieved. Pre-job planning & preparation work was done for 4 months in Office; included response to DwH disaster reports & presentations to corporate management, high level isolations procedures & risk assessment, rig intake, well control bridging document, H2S planning, Safety Coach & Logistics roles & responsibilities, DP & tools plans, pre-spud presentations, supply boat selection.

2006 to 2010 – Marathon Oil; Drilling Supervisor (day & night), also shared to Lundin (to work on Luno field appraisal wells with a sub-sea well test). Worked on Alvheim & Volund fields development project to drill & complete sub-sea oil production & water injection wells from a semi-sub rig. All horizontal wells with ten level 5 dual/tri-laterals; involved 3 x sub-sea well tests, sand screen & intelligent completions, and setting an expandable casing patch. Achieved >2.5 km horizontal geosteered laterals, over 1 km/day ROPs, under AFE on drilling phases with wells delivered on time for FPSO. Involved in ER to rig fire & rig collision incidents.

2005 to 2006 – Marathon Oil; Drilling Supervisor (night):
Worked on UKCS Brae field platforms on gas lift completion work-overs.
Senior Directional Driller
Schlumberger D&M
December 1992 – October 2005 (12 years 11 months)Directional Drilling Supervisor:
Worked on a wide variety of well types for various major operators (BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Texaco, BG) in the North Sea UKCS and onshore UK, also Australia, including short & medium radius multi-laterals, geosteered horizontals, HPHT, ERD, OH sidetracks.

Highlights:
2003-05 : ExxonMobil, Beryl Field area. The successful UK introduction of the new “point-the-bit” (PowerDrive Xceed) RSS tool led to an assignment to Esso Australia to train personnel and run this tool on 2 ERD wells in the Bass Strait, which achieved exceptional drilling results and won the Schlumberger Q2-2005 President’s Award and the annual Schlumberger Global Products “Bronze Award”.

2002-03 : British Gas, Juno Project in SNS gas basin. Geosteered with LWD imaging logs. 4 deep open-hole side-tracks were achieved with turbines. The innovative multi-lateral solution to the geological problems posed by these structurally complex wells won a British Gas global 2003 “Chairman’s Technology Award”.

2000-01 : Shell ExPro, Tern field. In charge of DD service within “Big Lever Contract”. Continuous improvement in drilling performance won the annual Schlumberger Global Products “Bronze Award”.

1998 : BP, Wytch Farm field, Infill Drilling Project 2. 2 medium radius trilateral and 2 bilateral DD-geosteered wells. The trilateral wells were the first to be drilled by BP world- wide, and won a BP global 1998 “BP Technological Achievement Award”.1997 : BP, Wytch Farm field, Infill Drilling Project 1. A short radius (42°/30m) dual lateral well was a particular success.

1994-96 : BP, Bruce field. High-angle J-type wells. Used Drilling Dynamics to reduce catastrophic drillstring failures, tool damage and inefficient drilling. Successfully designed rotary roller reamer BHAs to drill the toughest formations.

Drilling Engineer:
Trained and worked on directional well planning, directional drilling, well engineering and BHA design for 4 months onshore.
Senior MWD Engineer
Schlumberger D&M
February 1989 – December 1992 (3 years 11 months)

Senior MWD Engineer:
Worked for BP, Bruce field. In charge of combined MWD and mud logging services. Developed the concept of integrating all relevant surface and MWD data (including the new MWD Shock sensor) into a “Drilling Dynamics” service. This successfully pioneered the analysis and mitigation of downhole Rough Drilling Conditions which caused major difficulties on these wells.
MWD Engineer:
worked for British Gas, Marathon, Chevron, BP, Conoco, Mobil; UKCS various fields, including one of the first North Sea horizontal wells in the SNS V-Fields area.
Data Engineer
Schlumberger - Anadrill
January 1988 – February 1989 (1 year 2 months)

Pressure / Data Engineer:
Worked for Britoil, Conoco, Sun, BP, Ranger; UKCS. Wildcat exploration wells (one HPHT). In charge of mud logging and pressure evaluation services. Specialised in fracture pressure evaluation.
Data Engineer
Baker Hughes - Exlog
September 1984 – December 1987 (3 years 4 months)

Mud Logger and Pressure / Data Engineer:
Worked for Amoco & Occidental, Wintershall, Agip, Danske; Madagascar, Somalia, SE Turkey, Italy, Denmark. Responsible for formation evaluation and pressure evaluation services on remote wildcat exploration land wells in Madagascar for Amoco and Oxy, offshore Somalia for Oxy, SE Turkey for Mobil and Wintershall, Italy for Agip and on a gas storage well in Denmark for Danske. Particular expertise was hydrocarbon show evaluation by gas ratio analysis.

[1sonic] 31/7/2016 11:26

Oluf, it's all about timing.... Are you still out or did you buy back in.... That is the question????

[cornishtrader1000] 31/7/2016 11:23

Doc on a roll this morning, extra weetabix?

[kwizza] 31/7/2016 11:20

Involving who Owena or Guarantee

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 11:17

You have to wonder why the UK listing has been retained year after year when there's no obvious reason for keeping it. Rto?

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 11:05

Watch a seemingly down and out £6m ugly duckling turn into a beautiful white £600m swan within 12 months. Put your money on GVL as Chairman, SH as Finance D, Bobo as Community Relations Officer. But who will be the new CEO?

[olufemisudem] 31/7/2016 10:45

Guarantee are in trouble and you see that as a good sign?!!!

That is not a good sign

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 10:39

Why spend $15k per day hiring a rig when you can partner up with the Co in a jv enterprise.

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 10:32

AGM on hold will be because of the logistics of slotting the various pieces of a complex operation into place. AGM could be delayed until 6 Nov. Much more likely is that we'll see a transformational EGM towards the end of August. Now THAT should be worth attending. Can you imagine the atmosphere if they'd gone ahead and invited shareholders to AGM on 6 Aug and nothing was ready to be declared...

[dr rosso] 31/7/2016 10:24

The removal of Gp could be the final obstacle out of the way.
Highly sensitive so must surely RNS the news, tho might choose to announce via AD showing the new ownership.