From Joe Shea... The One That Got Away: Don't Let It Be ERHE
It was with great chagrin that I discovered an article on ERHC Energy I missed when it came out in the New York Times this summer. I was en route to my brother's lake house at Lake Oconee, Ga., to celebrate the Fourth of July, and didn't have Internet access at the house.
I was updating the American Reporter newspaper at odd hours of the day from the nearby Ritz-Carlton at Reynolds Plantation and probably not as interested as usual in anything affecting the company. As a result, I missed the most important ERHC story of the year.
I have been involved with the Times for a very long time, as a reader, a sometimes helper (they once gave me a special address to send in my numerous corrections), a rare topic of their coverage, a letter contributor and a committed fan of the high-quality journalism they publish.
But I was as disappointed by their rehash of the supposed facts of ERHC's role in the development of the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) and the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe, where ERHC Energy holds substantial concencessions to what most believe are vast quantities of oil 10,000 feet or more below the surface of the Gulf of Guinea.
To me, the facts recounted are those that belong to a certain element of the many players in the ERHC story, and specifically, those of the large oil companies that are behind the scenes working assiduously to get the rights ERHC owns away from it.
That is the reason a competing oilman, George Soros of Pioneer Natural Resources - once a partner of ERHC Energy - funded the heavily biased study done by the Senior Attorneys Law Project for the Sao Tome Atty. General's office. The Times failed to notice that the report has been rejected by the President of Sao Tome and the Nigerian government, even while they try to spare the former from any role in the issue.
It was Sao Tome President Fradique de Menezes, after all, that took the alleged $100,000 campaign contribution from Sir Emeka Offor, ERHC's then-owner and former chairman, in 1971, while the Times portrays him as an embattled hero only seeking rescue from Jeffrey Sachs, the academic numbskull who organized the law-making that will keep any oil revenues out of the hands of the people and give it instead to the government for social projects.
His Earth Institute reportedly told small gatherings of Sao Tomeans that the law could be contemplated as a "dam" between them and the money; most Sao Tomean's probably would have preferred a flood of oil cash distributed among the 150,000 residents. much as Alaska sends its residents a $1,000 check from state oil-royalty funds every year. The handful of families that effectively own Sao Tome can be relied upon to see to it that the dammed-up funds - if they ever come - go to social projects organized by them, for them and benefitting them.
The Times no doubt had leaked information from the FBI or Dept. of Justice that led them to believe, in another set of hashed-up facts, that Noreen Wilson, who has not been charged or indicted, tried to bribe Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) in 2001. It notes that she had parted company with ERHC after an earlier SEC investigation and suggests without evidence that she and a lobbyist approached Jefferson to get his help in sorting out the company's troubles in Sao Tome, where the company's then immediate past president had charged Sao Tomeans with demanding a bribe. To support its contention, it notes that a file marked "Rep. William Jefferson" was on the list of seized items from an April Fools Day search on 2006. but not that they also took every other file in the office.
Again, the key facts that the Times missed:
* George Soros, owner of 6% of our competitor and former partner, Pioneer Natural Resources, underwrote the investigation of ERHC;
* The man who conducted the study, a law professor at the University of Tulsa, has very strong ties to other oil industry competitiors;
* Both the Nigerian and Sao Tomean governments have rejected the findings of the report;
* There is no evidence Sir Emeka Offor was ever under investigation by the Nigerian government;
* The Chevron test well, according to the Wall Street Journal, hit a billion barrels of oil; the Times leaves the impression that there are no differences between the Chevron well site and other regions of the Gulf of Guinea Joint Development Zone, while numerous geological studies have shown that the great bulk of the oil is in the formal blocks partly owned by ERHC Energy.
Notwithstanding any oversights, the Times did get one thing right: ERHC Energy has been the big winner, albeit after 10 years of preparation and hard work. The paper notes that our drilling is set to begin this year, and so, I believe, is our final climb to glory.
I am ambarrassed that my favorite newspaper, The New York Times, has done such a one-sided and poor job of reporting on this issue, and have to chalk it up the "herd mentality" sometimes at work in journalism. Someday, our side of the story will be told, but that will be after those who believed in the company and its future have finally vanquished its foes and are rolling in money from stock that is selling this New Year's Eve afternoon for $0.199.
And by the way, Happy New Year, everyone!
Here is the Times article from July 2, 2007:
(See His Web Site For The Article R.M.)
