Ty for this post. It was sent to me by a friend. I've not kept up with Ms Zimmons as closely as I might but I know she was building a name for herself even when she worked for Cooper Associates. In those days, she'd have time to discuss the other company I was invested in but was always honest and up front.
I haven't been through her Linked In list of connections recently but I know that when she set up her own company she pretty well signed new connections and clients every day.
As your so well connected in the industry maybe you can tell us if you had heard rumours in advance that this deal was going to happen? I appreciate that unless you have a petrochemical engineering degree I would not really benefit from or understand a detailed technical evaluation. My reading in oil production goes to only simple explanations or the production process and more detailed reading on geology to try to understand seismic data better.
However, it does seem more likely that the evaluation report is quite possibly giving the CEO better leverage to secure a better deal, as now he has something independently verifiable - from a third party, with nothing to gain other than giving an honest opinion.