ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[midtieroil]

I think the whole question about what we have or don't have and why we drilled to a certain depth or didn't drill to a certain depth is all centered around the complexity of the geology we have encountered. Much like Akpo we have hydrocarbons at high pressures and high temperatures and it is no simple matter to determine how much of the hydrocarbons encountered will be able to be brought to the surface and what state it will be in when it gets to atmospheric pressure and temperatures. How much will be gas, how much will be oil and how much will be condensate when it gets to the surface? Nobody on the rig who saw the initial results or even saw the logs can answer these questions. I'm not even sure Sinopec could. They may have had to farm this out to someone who could.

So when asked what they found most would just say they don't know. Most reporters take this as meaning they didn't find much or that the results were "disappointing". I don't see it that way. I think this is just too complicated for those people reporting on this to understand. They're used to people telling what they found immediately and that was not possible in this case.

I think the pressure and temperatures also played a role in the depth these wells were drilled to. I think adverse conditions prompted them to stop drilling because they already had the majority of the info they needed from that well. Due to the high pressures and temperatures could have been dangerous, expensive and may not have provided much additional info. So they stopped.