Incidental stuff

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21st May '09 by emptyend

1294 comments 413271 reads

NO TA ON THIS THREAD PLEASE - (edit) and no pointless speculations either!

I've created this thread just to park stuff in that is only tangentially-related to SOCO's interests and doesn't relate to any of the specific assets.

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Emptyend

Premium Member

1294 comments

peterg

19th Sep '12

Hi Log

how do you get the 40K+/bpd figure from the fact that 2 x 300,000 bbls have been sold for early November?

From the ints:

In May, the HLJOC entered into a term contract for the second half of 2012 to sell a total of 40,000 BOPD to three purchasers at a price equal to a $6.60 premium to Dated Brent.

I would agree that any detailed picture of production levels from these sorts of figures is never going to be highly accurate, but the point is that the 2 300kbbl cargoes are on top of the existing contract for 40kbopd, so clearly production is running significantly above that.

Peter

loglorry

19th Sep '12

Hi PeterG

Ahhh now I understand so the 300K is extra over and above 40K/bpd promised to the three purchasers. That is very good news then thanks.

Sorry for the blonde moment!

Log

emptyend

19th Sep '12

Ahhh now I understand so the 300K is extra over and above 40K/bpd promised to the three purchasers

ie...exactly as stated originally!

I always find it helps to read RNSs....... ;-)

loglorry

19th Sep '12

The RNS you linked to didn't say that this was over and above the 40K/bpd but glad to see you are your usual grumpy self.

Log

emptyend

19th Sep '12

No it didn't. I stated it as a fact plainly in my post above, immediately after the RNS link:

Two 300,000 bbl cargoes to be sold from TGT over 8 days in early November. That is over and above the 40,000 bopd that they have been selling on the medium term contracts (at Brent +$6.60 or so) in H2....so I guess that suggests production is going to plan.

I obviously assume that some people actually bother to read stuff before they shoot from the hip. My bad in your case - plainly you couldn't give a toss (and neither did you notice the emoticon before complaining of grumpiness). Really really tiresome.....

loglorry

19th Sep '12

Ah OK its just I misunderstood what you wrote that's all. I thought when you wrote "That is over and above the 40K bopd that the..." meant that 300,000 equated to more than the 40K bopd e.g. when you said "That is" I thought you meant "300,000 is".

Just a misunderstanding that's all. Don't worry when I call you grumpy I don't mean it either :-)

Log

nigelpm

19th Sep '12

Come on folks - really no need for the winding up on both sides.

emptyend

19th Sep '12

Both???????????????????????????????

Via Lactea

20th Sep '12

Both???????????????????????????????

I make it three parties involved here, ............

.......... having heard elderly blondes apologising for their "log moments."

kenobi

20th Sep '12

The problem is that without knowing how much oil there is in the fpso, at a point in time, and knowing that production can be going up and down by the day it's very difficult to draw much in the way of conclusions, the capacity of the fpso is about 620 k , we know that there were the regular sales which represent 40k, we don't know what buffer they allowed themselves before committing to the shipments which seemed the equivelent of 40k per day. Having just reached that it might be sensible to keep some in reserve, just so that if problems were encountered they would have some in reserve (knowing full well that if nothing went wrong, and indeed things went well they could always sell additional cargoes, as they just have). Now that they are further on, it may have become much more predictable what production will be, so it's possible that these two cargos will take the amount of oil left in the fpso, down to a low level, in full knowledge that the regular orders are easily being forfilled by the the day to day production, and you might as well have cash in the bank as oil in the fpso.
No doubt come November time or whenever the reserves update is due, we'll hear something more about how production is going tgt, and what the future plans are.

In the meantime, it's good to hear that additional oil is being sold, this confirms that production is significantly above the 40k per day that had been mentioned before, (of course this has been confirmed by updates too),

K

kenobi

22nd Sep '12

there is an article on swissinfo.ch. Quoting the Congolese oil minister saying if they find significant oil in the park they may exploit it. Lets just hope that they find very Significant amounts then !

K

rhomboid1

25th Sep '12

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201209250700070332N

Ed Story, President and CEO of SOCO, said:

"This proposed Disposal is consistent with our strategy of re-focusing the asset portfolio on projects where SOCO has larger equity interests and adding new ventures, which can potentially create more value for shareholders."

Looks like a tidying up exercise..

adam

25th Sep '12

SOCO will sell its 80% majority interest

This proposed Disposal is consistent with our strategy of re-focusing the asset portfolio on projects where SOCO has larger equity interests

I would call 80% large.

swiper

25th Sep '12

"SOCO Cabinda has a 17% participating interest in the Cabinda North Block,.."

I thought today's other news would be of more interest to you :0)

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-24/soco-chief-considering-vietnam-oil-projects-in-disputed-waters

MadDutch

25th Sep '12

interesting ............... but it would be more interesting if we knew how much the option was sold for, and how much Soco will receive if the option is exercised and the Soco holding is assigned.

MD

emptyend

25th Sep '12

interesting ............... but it would be more interesting if we knew how much the option was sold for, and how much Soco will receive if the option is exercised and the Soco holding is assigned.

Not really. It is smallish potatoes. There is an upcoming drilling campaign in Cabinda ( I guess this option expires just before it starts) and so there is relatively modest amounts of "hope value" in the proposed sale. I read it much more as a reduction in political risk in the portfolio as a result of the interests that swiper highlights - and I've commented on that over here in the thread on Vietnam assets.

Nevertheless, I am casually interested to know who is behind "Quill" - which isn't a name I've heard before. SOCO Cabinda has never been listed in the AR as one of the principal subs.

kenobi

25th Sep '12

I would call 80% large.

in terms of %age yes high, in terms of values ? well they don't even mention the terms do they so you can imagine that this won't make a dent in the great scheme of things. They have obviously decided this isn't worth their time and money and off loaded it. Possibly part of the clearing up exercise ?

cheers K

emptyend

25th Sep '12

Returning this thread to matters of strictly incidental interest, I see that Cairn have raised $910mn from the sale of nearly half its remaining stake in India.

I continue to keep an eye on Cairn, mainly because of the close historical links with SOCO (a chunk of SOCO's first assets came from Cairn and there have been cross-directorships ever since) but also because I'd see Cairn as a potential buyer of SOCO's African interests in a clean-up (after a VN sale), giving a new leg to their explo opportunities.

davjo

25th Sep '12

Nevertheless, I am casually interested to know who is behind "Quill"

At a guess, "Q" for Quantic? ;-) Some years back I recall chatting to RdS about Quantic and his co-MD, Samy Maroun. He said Maroun's area of responsibilty was Congo whilst his was Angola....no doubt the Portuguese connection. One assumes it was Quantic who provided the Angolan introductions?

emptyend

25th Sep '12

Yes - thats as far as my thinking got too.... ;-)

The other possibility is of course that Quantic had the 20% stake originally (which I guess I'd always assumed) and then sold it on to a (slightly?) different cast of characters in Quill.

All likely to be water under the bridge soon, one imagines. I guess that the sale will have a starting point around net assets (c$26mn) but it could be above or below that depending on the outlook for the drilling programme, which seems likely to include an appraisal on Dinge.

rgds

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Incidental stuff

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Emptyend

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