I look at my buying over 2010 and wonder why I was so positive things were a go. I remember telling a favorite uncle that ERHC was now a "can't miss" spring of 2010 and was trying to figure how I came to that conclusion. Here is why:
1. First 3 wells were each said to contain 1 TFC per African Gas and Oil (very, very expensive oil journal).
2. Pressure in Blk 2 drill almost blew the ship out of the water as what happened in the GOM oil disaster. I thought Kina also hit extremely high pressure system.
3. STP oil minister said that oil and gas was found in all wells as expected.
4. PN came out in Dec-Feb (not sure of the exact time) with his infamous Smilin' Joe videos.
5. Total bought operatorship of Blk 1.
6. SNP postings on their own website of the success in the JDZ w/ Bomu being their first deepwater success.
7. Optional well drilled in Blk 4
8. Continued findings of oil throughout the region as evidenced in the Jubilee, Engina, and offshore Ghana discoveries.
9. Exact same pattern of findings announcement developing for JDZ as happened at AKPO which was a throw away at the start and it turned into a major field with a bit more drilling.
I realize none of the above are facts carved in stone but I find it ludicrous to believe nobody on the drilling ship could tell the difference between 1TFC per well to the now expressed minimal amount of methane gas. Also find it hard to believe they hit such high pressures with no substantive deposits as they have led investors to believe and that a person at the highest level (SNP oil minister) was speaking out of his posterior without a whit of knowledge of what he was spouting. Lastly, they could have drilled the optional well because first 4 were all bad but I again tend to disbelieve this view.
I know that someone could shoot down each and every point I made above but in toto I think they would lead most investors to regard the JDZ in the positive over that period of time.
After seek's post a couple of days ago I actually feel OK with the recent presentation by Bovell and realize we should have some solid info by 1Q 2012 after the drilling of the 2 wells in Blk 1.
I think everything in the JDZ went on hold for a year just to get Total heavily into the picture.
My last point concerning mgt/BOD. Like everyone else I have no clue as to what they are doing or have done but I see these exorbitant salaries with no apparent progress and seemingly little to no activity and it gripes my ass sorely. In my eyes Atkins/Gump handled all the investigation problems (and were paid handsomely), our nomad handles all the AIM dealings, our presentations have had the same 5 or so talking points for the last 5 years so no time is going into them, our acquisitions have been 0 (good job Bovell for the last 4 years or so), we lost $5MM w/ Stanford (good job useless CFO - what other matters do you handle as there has been no revenues for over 5 years),other than picking our 2 EEZ blocks I don't see what input or work has gone into the JDZ or EEZ as the operator calls all the shots and I don't think we even get to voice our 2 cents, and we don't even have a central office where the employees meet. Gralla in Colorado, Bovell in UK, PN in Nigeria, the BOD scattered about, how the hell do they do business? Maybe they call one another every week but how many hours a day really go into ERHC? I would love to see their work calendar and see what takes their time and how much time are we talking per week?
BOD - what have they contributed since PSC's were signed? What major input have they made in the last 5 years? Why waste the money for BOD meetings when you could just teleconference once a year, take 30 minutes to go over everything they get involved in, and shut it down for another year? PN keeps stating how hard everyone is working but they have a major, major problem in perception as from the outside looking in there just can't/hasn't been that much going on. If they take a month to decide when to meet to discuss when to start PSC's s with STP, it takes forever to get on AIM (which we now know has not been delayed for the BS reason they gave us), they can't come to a conclusion over Blks 5/6 (what is it 4 years + now?) then maybe they do take a lot of time but it is 99% wasted time.
My view is I now see why Africa is the backwards piece of crap continent it is IMO. Other than South Africa, what country has risen above almost abject poverty, continuous mass killings, or had a government not completely riddled with self serving dolts (I know, this could also be said of the USA). Seriously, how many people(I say just a handful) have really seen the benefits of the Nigerian oil monies over the last 40 years? I take this view to our mgt/board and therein lies the problem - Nigeria,the people running the country and the oil business, STP and their useless jackasses from the top down, how they do business in Africa, and the fact most of our mgt team is Nigerian. I do not base this observation on ethnic/color of people but on what I see has occurred in Africa and what has occurred in ERHC. I would say the same thing about the Middle East. Their culture has been around for as long as any on earth and yet they still live like they are on the bottom rungs of the social evolutionary ladder. If you disagree, talk to any female in the Middle East.
Will go back to a quiet mode until later in the year and hope we see some positive results from Blk 1 drillings.
AI
