ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[tradingmiss]

Old article I have never seen posted. Sorry if it is a repost.

http://www.elendureports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=167&Itemid=33

Changes at Emeka Offor’s Oil Company
Written by Jonathan Elendu
Thursday, 26 January 2006

Emeka Offor
Emeka Offor’s oil concern, ERHC Energy Inc., took the market by surprise yesterday when it announced the appointment of Walter Brandhuber as new the President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of the company. The former President, CEO and Director, Ali Memon, resigned his appointment on January 20th, 2005. ERHC has also been in the news recently following revelations by the Sao Tome Attorney General that there were flaws in the way the company was awarded its oil exploration contracts.



According to Attorney-General Adelino Pereira, “The procedures used to select the companies which received concessions contained serious flaws and did not satisfy the minimum standards required for the award of such licenses.” There had been protests in certain quarters “that some of the Nigerian companies that were awarded exploration rights were investment vehicles of financial speculators with no track record of achievement in oil production or exploration.” Emeka Offor’s ERHC was named as one of those companies.



ERHC Energy Inc. was described in a recent newspaper article as “a little more than a paper company with no operations and just one favorable contract in its portfolio.” Industry insiders believe that ERHC is financed entirely by loans from Emeka Offor. Elendureports.com had reported last year that the company was being investigated by the SEC and some other United States Government agencies. In an informal chat with Elendureports.com, Emeka Offor disputed this claim. But in published reports last year, the Sao Tome Attorney-General had called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Justice Department to investigate ERHC Energy Inc.’s acquisition of oil blocks in the tiny Island nation. Adelino Pereira, the Sao Tome Attorney-General, had also accused ERHC Energy Inc. of bribery stating that the company was involved in “providing benefits to the families of key decision makers,” in Sao Tome’s oil industry.

According to Reuters, a report prepared by Attorney-General Pereira, had declared that “the conditions of ERHC's agreement were so favorable they might violate Sao Tomean law by ‘alienating’—signing away control over—its natural resources. Apart from fraud, Sao Tome and Principe should again re-examine whether there are grounds for terminating the contract."

There appears to be an uncanny pattern with the way associates and partners of the ERHC Energy Inc. part ways with the company: They depart for no apparent reason. In what came as a surprise to industry watchers, Ali Memon, who for a long time was the only full time staff of ERHC Energy Inc., resigned from his position as President of the company without any explanation. Noble Energy Inc., an American independent oil company had withdrawn from its partnership with ERHC Energy Inc. at the end of October last year. The company had been engaged to carry out drilling and exploration for the oil blocks won by ERHC. No explanations were given for Noble’s disengagement. Devon Energy Corp. another U.S. independent oil company also withdrew from two other groups that had a partnership with ERHC Energy Corp. No explanations were given.


However, there are speculations by oil industry experts that the hasty departures of these reputable companies may have been to forestall their being drawn into some impending situations with ERHC Energy Inc. that could tarnish the reputations of these conglomerates. According to a source, “No American company wants to be in a situation where they are investigated by the SEC, or the Justice Department, for things they had no prior knowledge of but which may end up causing them serious legal problems and may be embarrassments. The oil industry in Nigeria is not the most transparent, and add the agitation by Sao Tome and Principe and you have a recipe for catastrophe. Besides Emeka Offor’s ties to top Nigerian Government officials make a lot of these people uncomfortable.”


Last November, Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas, P.C. suddenly resigned as auditors to ERHC Energy Inc. without an explanation. The company quickly replaced them with Malone and Bailey, P.C. ERHC Energy Inc. earned eleven thousand, two hundred and seventy dollars ($11,270.00) as net income last year. This is a significant improvement from its net income of three thousand, five hundred and ninety-three dollars ($3,593.00) in 2004. The company stock ended trading yesterday at thirty cents a share. As at the time of going to press, ERHC stocks are selling at thirty-one cents a share.



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