Update: Share price did move higher at the opening, hitting $0.50, and after falling to $0.47 hit $0.50 again after a 100,000-share buy at $0.49 in the early afternoon. The spread widened later, to $0.475 bid and $0.50 ask, on 652,835 shares of volume at 2:20pm EST.
Disappointing some, there was no news in UpstreamOnline or elsewhere about a probable date for the awards, but many are relying on a statement from Pioneer Natural Resources' CEO at the company's conference call earlier this week that suggested awards may be announced "in the next two or three weeks."
ERHC is partnered with Pioneer, which in turn is partnered with Devon Energy, in bids for Blocks 2 and 3 of the JDZ. ERHC is also bidding with Noble Drilling in Block 4, and seeks a 15 percent preferential entitlement in Block 6, which was sought at last notice by just one other company.
Meanwhile, ERHC is one of the topics covered in an 887-word, $24 briefing paper from Energy Compass this morning on the matching up of minnows and majors in the African oil domain.
The story's summary, about $2.12 worth, offers:
Africa: Mating rituals grow more complex
Energy Compass (Friday, February 11, 2005)
As companies compete for hotspots and frontier acreage in Africa, strategic partnerships are the name of the game. They range from alliances between state companies based on bilateral arrangements underpinned by aid, to marriages of convenience between minnows and majors -- each trading connections for capital, technical expertise and legitimacy. As the scramble intensifies, the game becomes more complex.
The Energy Compass site is at http://www.energyintel.com/PublicationHomePage.
asp?publication_id=1
Update: Via email, we received two more paragraphs that are relevant to the JDZ action:
A tie-up between minnow Equator Exploration and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) to bid in the joint development zone (JDZ) between Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe appears equally mutually advantageous. ONGC is a player in a zone where Nigerian entrepreneurs and politicians pull the strings, but has plenty of capital and the might of the Indian state behind it. Equator, which listed on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in December, boasts connections in Nigeria and Sao Tome, but needs a well-capitalized partner to boost its bidding credentials, given suspicions that many JDZ bidders are fronts for well-connected Nigerians. [Energy Compass had discussed that issue in December 2004].
Nigerian-owned Environmental Remediation Holding Co. (ERHC) has meanwhile teamed up in the JDZ with established US players Noble Energy and Pioneer Natural Resources to improve its chances of executing a controversial deal giving it rights to stakes in six blocks (EC Nov.5,p10). ERHC's image as a freeloader deterred some investors from those blocks in the first JDZ bid round. Teaming up with Noble and Pioneer could ease objections in the second.
Many thanks to the person who provided that additional verbiage.
20 comments:
JOe, good to see you back in the puumping mode again. You must have gotten back in today.
I never got out.
You know... Just because one is disappointed by all the BS involved with holding this stock doesn't make one a basher. It doesn't mean that one is trying to manipulate the price. It just means that one is human.
I for one usually agree with Joe's sentiments on ERHC's performance. The 10Q was disappointing. The whole situation is frustrating. There's nothing wrong with being disappointed by that. Nothing at all.
I wish that all of you jackasses who are always accusing people of pumping, bashing, or (my particular favorite) market maker manipulation would just keep your idiotic ravings on Raging Bull where they belong.
Thanks for the blog, Joe. I know you take a lot of crap from the blokes on RB, but there are a lot of lurkers who read your blog and really appreciate it as a great source of consolidated DD with very few frills.
I have no problem with you expressing your opinions. Thanks for all the hard work.
Probably Joe is testing if he can move the stock???
Probably Joe is testing if he can move the stock??? I guess the test failed.
Yes, so all of you who fret over things like Joe Shea, MM manipulation, Mongo and all that other BS, you should all put a lid on it. Because none of those things have anything to do with the share price. The reason the price isnt higher is we need awards. Its not rocket science.
Nice going Joe, now we have no Barry Morgan updates. Although it wasnt all your fault to be fair. You were about 20% to blame.
The longs are to blame more than Joe. Emailing Barry every day and then posting that information on RB was a big mistake. Bugging the powers that be on a daily basis does not help anyone. All it does is make people aggravated. And that doesnt help anyone's cause. Awards will come when they are announced. Harassing those in power for answers before then only hurts the cause.
The longs with their incessant pumping have done more to hurt ERHC's cause than anything any basher has done. New visitors to the RB board see the constant pumping and then immediately think something is not right. The longs constantly saying awards are right around the corner makes them look foolish. How many times has that been said in the last year only to have no announcement. And yet these bozo's still continue to believe everything they are told about posible award dates. It must be easy to be a basher. Because the longs make such fools of themselves on a daily basis.
Do not pay too much attention to this daily few cents fluctuation which is meaningful only for the daytraders.
NWTF good to see you posting here. I thought you didn't visit the blog?
BM put his trust in some of the longs on RB and got burned by it. Its that simple. Anyone who thinks there is another reason for his silence is "out to lunch." His connections in the JDA have probably told him that they dont wasnt anything more leaked. They probably have a gag order on him now and along with his editor hagve scolded him. He tried to be a good guy and see where it got him. Nowhere. I guess the saying nice guys finish last really applies to BM.
And is BM tied up in a dungeon somewhere in Sao Tome? With a bandana tied around his mouth and his hands tied behind his back.
Yeah whatever.....
You've watched one too many episodes of Gilligan's Island.
"The Adventures of BM" coming to a movie theatre near you. He breaks out of his blindfold and rope and runs to the nearest Kinko's in Sao Tome to type up his latest update. Only to run into ow who posts it on RB. Sao Toman authorities then track BM down and put him back in jail. He gets the harshest sentence available on the island. A prison cell right next to Mongo and Monkey. A fate definitely worse than death.
Great story. Except for one thing. Mongo is Monkey and Monkey is Mongo. They are the same person. They post at the same time. Mongo never refers to Monkey. But Monkey always refers to Mongo. And they are almost always proven to be wrong.
They are two seperate people who have the same boss.
You can't rely on someones speculation about stock prices. If you do, then you will be headed toward a dismal future. Joe uses this site to his advantage by trying to get the price to move one way or the other. In fact, by him being just a reporter, could have the SEC down on him by trying to do this. I for one would enjoy seeing that happen. jmo
Yes Joe. It is now close to March. Do you still stand by your $6 buyout by March.
I was wrong. Joe did not predict award to be on Feb. 22. His prediction was March 22. Sorry for my mistake.
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