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PUP I'm confused you were the one who first posted the term "Throw away Well" you first warned us they could down play the results
now you say what they reported is true 150FT> NP ?
please clarify
11 payzones 1200 NP is more in line eh?>
ALSO if I recall back in JAN, you said to keep our eye on the PPS as the word was getting out about find
sure enough the pps went up
PUP - you sound a bit tee'd off
by now you [we] are used to the over promise [hype] and underdeliver [pps] of our minnow
our day in the sun will come but we need respect
we need to add value to our management team
we need to have our OWN drill results [yes]
we need CVX to tell the world what is what
we need to get the all clear from DoJ and SEC
Sure is great entertainment if nothing else
PUP OBO-1 was NOT exaggerated - CVX news was BS
IMO we will discover the BL 1 find is among one of the most impressive finds EVER !!!
will be worth the wait to any investor
Oilphant I'd rather control the War vs. Words
F the Words - we are here to win
call in the reserves
...from WB ... I asked if the current DoJ investigation could strip ERHC of its STP/JDZ rights?
reply...
"The answer is NO". ERHC's rights are granted by international treaty.
Walter Brandhuber
President/CEO
ERHC Energy, Inc.
Sent: Thu 6/29/2006 1:34 PM
ERHC ENERGY WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)-- June 30
A subpoena issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission to ERHC Energy Inc. (ERHE) asks for documents tied to the company's correspondence with foreign governmental officials or entities in Sao Tome and
Nigeria, the company disclosed Friday in an SEC filing.
ERHC Energy said Thursday that it received the subpoena but didn't provide
any details about the information the subpoena requested.
ERHC Energy said it intends to fully comply with the subpoena.
The oil and gas company also is under investigation by the U.S. Justice
Department about the company's activities in the Joint Development Zone, off
the coastline of Nigeria and the island nation of Sao Tome & Principe,
according to a press release the company issued previously.
-By Antonie Boessenkool, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-7139;
antonie.boessenkool@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-30-06 1700ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
17:00 063006
DOW JONES Form 8-K for ERHC ENERGY INC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30-Jun-2006
Other Events
Item 8.01 Other Events
On June 29, 2006, ERHC Energy Inc. (the "Company") issued a press release disclosing a receipt of a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). The subpoena requests a broad range of documents, including, among other documents, all documents related to correspondence with foreign governmental officials or entities in Sao Tome and Nigeria. The Company intends to comply fully with the SEC subpoena. Attached as exhibit 99.1 is a copy of the Company's press release announcing, among other items, the receipt of the SEC subpoena.
DOW JONES ERHC
Bottom line NO SMOKING GUN
Therefore Rights will not be harmed
regardless of the big blocks the pps indicates perhaps the DoJ may slow us down but not stop us
GREAT PPS action today - good we dont trade with the DOW
Thanks AngryAsian - fingers crossed
Personally I feel it was sealed due to the Political Heavy Weights tagged to the investigation in STP / JDA / Nigeria
this is a far reaching Political Game with big $$$
Spec thanks for sharing - keep us in the loop
ERHC has had NO REVENUE except the last Qtr so could hardly be held for TAX Evasion - maybe Offor can be - for his mysterious Share transfers to foreign banks and offshore accounts
hopefully thats the worst case
Good luck getting Menezes to agree to accepting a $100k [political contribution] / bribe ?? from days gone by in an election year.
Same goes for VP of Nigeria all with elections coming up no one will be too cooperative IMO
the poor souls who have been wronged and left out during this process are the ones to look out for - but its alot of HEARSAY
i feel this will drag on for some time as the Govt already indicated several months
DADD the Gov't does NOT oppose the ERHC motion for What?
in Oilphants Defense IMO the 800NP is correct regardless of what CVX says
HERD of Elephants !!!
OILPHANT is the runway NOW Clear ???
1 BB BBLS+ in BL 1 says Centurion Oil Analyst http://www.robtv.com/shows/past_archive.tv?day=tue
Scroll Down to 8:PM
CLICK PLAY
After commercial
Advance to 19 Minute Mark
Market Call Tonight with Howard Green
Energy Stocks
Angryasian same sources that said the following by You...
Let 'em sell. BUY BUY BUY!!! [stock went down]
DQ- I betcha we see .91 again!! [stock went down]
i believe we are heading to .80 any minute [stock went down]
Today is the day? I have a weird feeling that we make a nice climb. [stock went down]
No worries Mate. WE are more than fine [stock went down]
A few big buys and up we go [stock went down]
I did mean 10% up, could be wrong. we will see .80 now...on it's way up. filled! It's not good to live on the edge! lunch time and we are at .80, would mean a nice close imo. [stock went down]
your dream is a VERY POSSIBLE reality. just give it time
let us not forget if XOM took their 2x25% in 2,4 perhaps none of this would be on the table
We would have 15% & 15% gross which would have been sub 10% NET in each with a bigger chunk in BL 3
Dont Forget ERHC trades on EUROPEAN Exchanges
ERHC ENERGY (Frankfurt:ERH.F)
ERHC ENERGY (Berlin:ERH.BE)
TheDane more to your point is HOW IMPORTANT the NIGERIAN Big Brother ROLE is for STP
STP they would have NOTHING without Nigeria - Nigeria has held their baby hands this entire way.
They could not have done this alone - the EEZ Blocks are ultra ultra deep and are years off - and considering how unstable their political system is, who knows how long an EEZ round could take
They would not want to jeopardize the friendship/partnership
with FRN
they tried and quickly felt the OBJ WRATH
Rich if they want us so bad why dont they buy Anadarko and Addax they would stand to get a much better %
this back door stuff cant help their standing with the Nigerian powers to be
Just dont follow how hurting us helps them
Thanks Q much appreciated
Qcala - what do you make of these current developments and could you share your thoughts on a possible outcome[s]
thx R
Digdeepforsweet 15 guys w/Guns is intimidating for anyone - we dont know what questions were asked and how he responded
unless the FEDS infringed upon his basic rights
Great news Rocky! It appears ERHC has argued and won a small VICTORY
PERHAPS THE PR/NEWS GAG ORDER CAN NOW BE LIFTED
Oilphant.. Nigeria has a spare RIG for BL 2 hiding around?
still waiting for the HERD of ELEPHANTS to be seen cant wait for CVX for ever
Who will win deep water acerage offshore W.Africa going forward
I would not be betting on CVX and XOM
they have been pushing those Nigerians around long enough
perhaps the tide is changing
Oilphant Thanks for Sharing now does this Drama END ?
CVX ARE SCUM the JDA/Nigeria must be pissed with them for NOT disclosing what could be among the most significant discoveries in the region
with a new Nigerian round under way the loss in additional Sig Bonus adds up big -
Better day today! Looks like the Seller UBSS has subsided and actually was on the BID for the better part of the Aft.
once the SIRENS pass - and the all Clear is given
OILPHANT is to be believed IMO
we should see a much better 2nd 1/2 of 2006
Cnn.com House suspends Jefferson from powerful panel
500k maybe
UBSS has some paper to unload 10k and 5k blocks started at .45
MMs keep dropping the bid to get him to sell lower
cant expect to move a big position with small VOL and not pay either way
General Rule
Buy When there is BLOOD in the STREETS
General Rule
Sell when there is Euphoria
May 2003 By Ken Silverstein on ERHC
Sinking Its Hopes Into a Tiny Nation
Obscure Texas oil firm, secures a deal with
poor Sao Tome and Principe.
May 24, 2003
By Ken Silverstein, Times Staff Writer
HOUSTON -- Environmental Remediation Holding Corp. / Chrome Energy
hasn't reported a penny of revenue for four years and has piled up
more than $30 million in losses. Its stock price hovers around 10
cents a share.
Yet thanks to its sole asset -- a contract that gives it a major
stake in a tiny West African nation's oil fields -- the obscure Texas
oil company appears to be on the verge of a stunning turnaround.
ERHC secured its oil rights from Sao Tome and Principe, an island
nation so poor that it supplements its budget by issuing
commemorative stamps of Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles and other
celebrities.
The company's oil contract, made final last month, gives it rights to
two offshore fields in Sao Tome's territorial waters and a
significant share in deposits in an area jointly controlled by Sao
Tome and Nigeria.
About 6-11 billion barrels of crude are believed to lie beneath those
waters. Without a drilling rig to its name, ERHC could reap hundreds
of millions of dollars from its holdings. The company has not
revealed its plans, but analysts predict it will sell its interest to
one of the industry giants.
That a small energy speculator could get such a lucrative foothold in
Sao Tome has mystified experts, who suspect the company benefited
from the country's inexperience in the oil business.
Bill Brumbaugh, a Houston energy consultant who advised Sao Tome on
its contract with ERHC, says the deal amounts to "a raid on Sao
Tome's future national treasury."
The contract has outraged internal opposition groups, which accuse
the government of taking bribes. Last month, Sao Tome's president,
Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes, admitted secretly receiving
$100,000 from ERHC's chairman. De Menezes insisted the money was a
campaign contribution.
ERHC officials deny bribing the president. They acknowledge winning
highly favorable terms and offer no apologies. They say they've spent
$12 million so far on the Sao Tome venture, about half in payment to
the national treasury and the rest to chart the country's offshore
waters and otherwise pave the way for exploration by multinational
energy firms.
The original agreement between the company and Sao Tome was signed in
1997. Since then, it has twice been renegotiated, and successive
governments have threatened to kill it. Yet the company emerged last
month with some of the most generous terms ever bestowed on a foreign
oil firm. The beneficiaries include a Nigerian businessman, who owns
nearly half the shares, and a handful of Texas oilmen.
"ERHC is in the catbird seat," says Phil Nugent, a Houston-based oil
and gas consultant and a major shareholder in the company. "We're
going to get our pound of flesh and I think we're due it."
West African Oil Rush
ERHC's dealings with Sao Tome reflect a rush for oil riches in West
Africa. The region provides 15% of American oil imports, and the
figure is expected to grow to 25% within a decade as the U.S.
government seeks to reduce energy reliance on the Middle East.
Major oil producers such as Nigeria and Angola have highly trained
energy experts and lawyers and can negotiate on equal terms with big
oil companies.
But newcomers with unproven reserves, such as Sao Tome, frequently
turn to small European or U.S. consulting firms, which conduct or
arrange geological surveys, help write foreign investment laws and
try to interest big oil companies in developing reserves. The
consulting firms typically collect a flat fee, or make their profit
by selling their geological surveys to the big companies.
ERHC, instead, negotiated a stake in Sao Tome's oil fields, including
a 14% share of the most promising ones. If the country's reserves
weren't as big as believed, or couldn't be exploited, the company
would be out its relatively small outlay. On the other hand, if Sao
Tome's oil potential was borne out, the company stood to make a vast
return.
Andrew Latham, a West Africa expert for Wood Mackenzie, an energy
consulting firm in Edinburgh, Scotland, says the Sao Tome-ERHC
agreement is far out of line with industry standards.
"There are plenty of examples where a small firm will get in early
and help promote a country's oil acreage. Their rewards are
relatively minor " Latham said. "I've never seen a company get a
stake like ERHC obtained in Sao Tome."
Africa's smallest nation, Sao Tome is composed of two islands with a
combined territory of 372 square miles -- about one-third the size of
Rhode Island -- and a population of 170,000. The country straddles
the equator and is located west of Gabon in the Gulf of Guinea.
Sao Tome gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and, unlike most
African nations, is a parliamentary democracy with little history of
military involvement in politics. Per capita income is a mere $300,
and Sao Tome imports all its fuel as well as most consumer goods and
food.
Sao Tome's top export earner is cocoa. Besides issuing commemorative
stamps, the country raises revenue by serving as a flag of
convenience for the shipping industry and by renting its phone lines
to porn operators to route phone-sex calls, a common practice in the
Third World since developed countries cracked down on "telesex"
businesses a decade ago.
"The country has a national anthem and a flag, but it only exists as
an independent state because of foreign financial support," says
Gerhard Seibert, author of a history of Sao Tome.
Taiwan, the biggest single donor, agreed to contribute $30 million in
1997 in exchange for Sao Tome's granting diplomatic recognition to
the island republic and severing relations with mainland China.
First Contract in 1997
ERHC's interest in Sao Tome's oil grew out of a conversation six
years ago between Noreen Wilson, a Washington lobbyist, and an
official at Procura Financial Consultants, a South African oil
consulting firm.
The company official mentioned that Procura was exploring
opportunities in Sao Tome and was looking for an American partner.
Wilson's cousin, James Griffin, was on the board of ERHC.
The company, founded in 1986, was involved in waste disposal and
cleanup for the oil industry. It had 25 full-time employees,
including three petroleum engineers and two geologists. Its contracts
included one with Chevron to plug 400 wells in Louisiana.
Wilson said she persuaded the company's chief executive -- then Sam
L. Bass Jr., a former wildcatter who had sold oil-drilling equipment
to Nigeria and put out oil fires in Kuwait after the Persian Gulf
War -- to take a close look at Sao Tome. In early 1997, Wilson,
Griffin and several officials from Procura traveled to the islands to
speak with government officials.
In short order, they signed a deal. ERHC paid the government $5
million for the right to market the country's oil potential. ERHC,
which later bought out Procura's rights, was awarded a minimum of
four oil fields and was exempted from all taxes. The agreement also
created a state oil company, STPetro. ERHC and the government were to
split future profits in STPetro. Wilson was appointed STPetro's
president and ERHC's chief financial officer.
"Was the deal a little rich?" asks Wilson. "Yeah, it probably was,
but who else was going to take the risk back then? They couldn't give
their oil away, let alone get someone to pay them for it."
Wilson said she no longer has an official position with ERHC, but
owns millions of shares of company stock.
Brumbaugh, who later advised Sao Tome on how to improve the deal,
said ERHC took advantage of the country's inexperience. "The playing
field was unequal. So when ERHC asked for the moon, they got it."
The lead negotiator for Sao Tome, Carlos Gomes, wound up with an
executive position in the new state oil firm and a $4,000 monthly
salary paid by ERHC, according to company officials and corporate
records.
ERHC also provided an academic scholarship at the University of
Louisiana at Lafayette for Gomes' son, according to Wilson and Jim
Callender, a former company executive. The children of two other well-
connected Sao Tomeans also received scholarships from ERHC, they
said.
"It didn't cost much to get on the right side of key government
decision-makers," says Gregory Craig, a prominent Washington attorney
who briefly served as an advisor to Sao Tome.
Gomes defended the agreement. "At the time, no one had expressed any
interest in exploring for oil in Sao Tome," he said in an interview
in London this year. "We didn't have any other offers to pick from."
Gomes did not reply to e-mails seeking comment on the benefits he
received from ERHC.
Deals Renegotiated
ERHC paid a geographer to chart Sao Tome's waters and lawyers to file
demarcation paperwork with the United Nations. ERHC helped settle
territorial disputes with neighboring nations, paying the
government's legal fees, travel expenses for Sao Tome leaders and
other costs. The company also drummed up oil industry interest in the
country's reserves.
ERHC was soon in financial trouble. It had largely abandoned its
waste disposal and cleanup activities to focus on Sao Tome, which had
yet to yield any revenue. Investors were growing skittish because the
International Monetary Fund was encouraging Sao Tome to renegotiate
the ERHC deal, which the fund said was overly generous to the
company.
In 1999, Bass sold his controlling interest in ERHC to Geoffrey
Tirman of Talisman Capital, a Little Rock, Ark., investment firm that
was a significant investor in ERHC. At the time, Sao Tome was
complaining that ERHC was not doing enough to develop its oil
industry.
Tirman traveled to Sao Tome in the fall of 1999 to patch things up
but talks with the government of President Miguel Trovoada quickly
broke down. On his way out of the country, Tirman held a news
conference and accused government officials of asking for bribes. The
government denied the allegation and charged Tirman with sedition.
After Tirman apologized, the matter was dropped. But Sao Tome
announced it would not honor the contract. Tirman filed for
arbitration. Then, in 2001, Tirman sold out to Emeka Offor, a
Nigerian businessman. By then, ERHC was little more than a shell.
Offor, a friend and occasional business partner of Nugent, the ERHC
shareholder, owns a cargo airline, a bank, a newspaper and major
telecommunications interests. He appointed himself chairman of ERHC's
board but kept the company's headquarters in Houston.
In response to complaints from Sao Tome officials, Offor renegotiated
ERHC's deal in May 2001 with the Trovoada administration.
Under the new agreement, ERHC relinquished certain rights, notably
its stake in the state oil company. In return, it was granted, among
other benefits, a share of Sao Tome's future oil profits and retained
its rights to choice oil fields.
Two months later, De Menezes was elected president and, after taking
office in September 2001, vowed to revoke the agreement. ERHC
threatened legal action but eventually agreed to yet another
renegotiation, which began in earnest this year.
By that point, Sao Tome was eager to sign a deal so exploration could
commence, said Brumbaugh, the oil consultant. "They saw Nigeria,
Equatorial Guinea, Angola and other countries getting rewards from
oil, and they were sucking sand."
The country's lead negotiator was the minister of natural resources,
Rafael Branco, whose two children were among those who had received
college scholarships from ERHC, according to Wilson and Callender,
the former company officials.
Sao Tome's National Petroleum Commission played an advisory role. One
of its members was an ERHC shareholder and former company consultant.
Two other commission members had been on ERHC's payroll at the state-
run oil company. So had two members of another government board
overseeing oil exploration in the Joint Development Zone with
Nigeria.
Branco did not reply to a request for comment.
The contract, as renegotiated by the Branco-led team, gave ERHC a 14%
stake in nine especially promising fields in the Joint Development
Zone. It left intact the company's rights in Sao Tome's wholly owned
territorial waters, where ERHC has full ownership of two oil fields
and a 30% share in two others.
In most of the fields in which it was awarded rights, ERHC was
exempted from paying a "signature bonus" -- a one-time fee that oil
companies typically pay governments for exploration rights. In West
Africa, such bonuses have ranged from a few million dollars per field
up to $300 million, the sum ExxonMobil recently paid for rights in
Angola.
Chuda Mba, the Nigerian chief executive of ERHC and its lead
negotiator, said he had agreed to Sao Tome's chief demand -- that the
company relinquish a cut of the government's future oil earnings. In
exchange, ERHC asked for and received a larger ownership interest in
Sao Tome's oil fields.
"They got what they wanted and we got what we wanted," Mba said by
phone from London.
Noreen Wilson was jubilant. "As a shareholder, I'm thrilled," she
said. "Everyone was focused on what we gave up and no one added up
what we got."
During a public appearance in April, Rafael Branco said the deal
marked a "watershed" in Sao Tome's history. "The government and the
people of Sao Tome have been keenly waiting for the dawn of this
day," he said.
The deal was formally concluded April 10. The next day, an open
letter signed by dozens of civic and political leaders accused De
Menezes of selling out the national interest.
They charged that the president had received $100,000 from a Bahamian-
registered company controlled by Offor in February 2002. The money
was allegedly deposited into the account of a Belgian company that De
Menezes owns.
At a news conference on April 23 -- the day after the Los Angeles
Times sent De Menezes an e-mail asking about the allegation -- the
president acknowledged accepting the money. He described it as a
contribution to his political party and an allied party for
parliamentary elections.
John Coleman, ERHC's sole employee in Houston, said the company had
nothing to do with the payment.
Sao Tome and Nigeria have announced that they will take bids in
October for exploration rights in nine oil fields they jointly own.
Multinational firms "are going to do back flips to get in," predicted
Nugent, the ERHC shareholder.
"The IMF and everybody else dumped all over ERHC about Sao Tome, but
they forget that we're the one who brung 'em to the dance," he
said. "At the end of the day we're going to have the last laugh."
I Was THRILLED in 2003 when Ken S first wrote his first smear job on ERHC FRONT PAGE ON LA TIMES BIZ "Sinking Its Hopes Into a Tiny Nation Obscure Texas oil firm, secures a deal with
poor Sao Tome and Principe
Amongst Bribery Charges"
funny then the stock ran from $.15 to $.45
3 years later we slide from $.90 back to $.40 to come full circle again
and What has changed since 2003 EVERYTHING
CONTRACTS / PARTNERS / $CASH / and Confirmed OIL
sure is a great soap opera
ERHC Agenda should be
a] response to Mr. KEN
b] update shareholders on current events
c] comment on operating committies drilling plans
d] road show
e] new IR firm
f] CHINESE Buy in ????????
Hoping for a better X-Mas
- UMBRA instead of Easter how bout X-Mas
let us know
Walldog they [Feds] are looking for a PATTERN from History with Jefferson that affects many companies.
Jefferson may have had dealings with the early ERHC founders maybe he's a shareholder who knows
I concur it wont affect squat long term
issue is short term -
Rumpus over FBI raid leads to talk of resignations
From John King
CNN Chief National Correspondent
Saturday, May 27, 2006; Posted: 11:43 p.m. EDT (03:43 GMT)
Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, denies any wrongdoing and says he plans to run for re-election.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Top officials at the Justice Department and the FBI were prepared to resign if President Bush had ordered them to return materials seized from a Congressman's office, two senior administration officials said.
They said the situation reached what one called "the tipping point" when some in the administration, led by the vice president's office, argued that FBI overreached with its search of the Capitol Hill office of Rep. William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat.
Jefferson is under investigation in a bribery scandal. The FBI took documents during a search of the congressman's legislative office, sparking bipartisan outrage on Capitol Hill. (Full story)
A potential showdown was averted by Bush's decision to seal the documents for 45 days in the possession of the solicitor general while all sides try to reach a compromise.. (Full story)
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty and FBI Director Robert Mueller indicated they would resign if forced to give the seized materials back, the officials said. (Watch administration officials make their stand -- 2:02)
The resignation talk was relayed to the White House midweek as President Bush came under fierce pressure from House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, and other congressional leaders to return the materials. (Watch Hastert confront the administration -- 1:48)
The indirect threats were made during conversations and negotiations, and were usually framed as a hypothetical, said a source familiar with the talks.
For example: "If this and this happens, then these may be the consequences," the source said. The threats were not made directly to the president.
"It never rose to the level of someone saying, 'If you do this, we're out of here,' " the source said, adding that while there was "plenty of brinkmanship" going on on both sides. But both sides made it clear they didn't want the controversy to reach a showdown, the source said.
The two administration officials told CNN that inside the White House Vice Presidential Chief of Staff David Addington took the view that the FBI had crossed a constitutional line. Addington, usually a strong proponent of presidential power, asserted that in this case the FBI went too far and violated the separation of powers.
One official said Vice President Dick Cheney met with Bush on the issue and "at a minimum" made the case that the critics of the raid had points that needed to be considered.
"I can't say for certain the 'veep' agreed with David (Addington), but I know he relayed those concerns as legitimate," according to the source knowledgeable about the talks.
White House counsel Harriet Miers was part of these discussions as well as a few other top officials.
The officials said the Justice Department officials were adamant that they had respected the constitutional questions -- giving Jefferson eight months to comply with a subpoena before seeking a warrant and by bringing officials with no involvement in the case to the search site to oversee and monitor that nothing not authorized in the warrant was taken.
"Their case is they took every possible step before going to extraordinary lengths and that they had judicial branch authorization and that the congressman was using his office as a barrier to obstruct the investigation," said one of the the senior administration officials.
The official added that "their argument is they didn't rush in to this and gave it every possible chance to run another course."
The source familiar with the talks said that after Bush ordered the documents sealed, both sides were "changing their tones a little bit," though not backing off their original positions.
The source explained that the 45-day time period changes the focus from getting the documents to reaching a solution satisfactory to all parties.
A White House spokesperson had no official comment.
Justice Department spokesmen had no official comment Saturday, while FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said, "We do not comment on the private conversations between executives."
Spec is a CLEAN Bill of Health what we SHOULD expect them to report
or
would the DOJ simply say the case is "ON GOING" - not closed
however no charges laid to date
leave it open so to speak