I have been with SPRL (watching/trading/investing) for a couple of years now. Could someone enlighten me: what exactly ties Sam with Russia? Why not Zimbabwe, Poland, or Singapore? I mean… what kind of contacts, connections does he have there? Relatives? Friends? Those are very important question when you invest in Russia, and Strat is my only Russian holding, where the answer is not clear to me.
Unlike previous SPRL “traditional” projects, current “oil sludge” enterprise is a brilliant idea. What they call “oil waste” in Russia, where many refineries use old non-effective refining technologies, is, actually, precious source of revenue for any sophisticated producer. The problem is: if it's genius – it's usually simple. The business is easy to enter, and mobile plants could be built for less than a million dollars. At one point big refineries may decide to do this kind of processing themselves, a number of small businesses with better connections and local government support can enter the game, etc. So, Strat’s strategy should be: keep quiet, buy in advance as much sludge as you can, put in place forward contracts, that would guarantee delivery of sludge with certain physical characteristics for years ahead, etc. This place will get crowded in a year or two. Similar units are working in some other Russian regions, and Sam happened to be in a right place in right time. I, personally, understand his attempts to keep things quiet. Strat should use this time to position itself, that it couldn’t be ignored and bypassed by competitors. Then they will have to buy us out in a couple of years... and we all get rewarded.
Again, now, when it looks like the business is up and running, I would like to know what kind of support Sam has in Russia.
