Dow Jones Puts Offor's Holdings At 35%

In a boost both to the share price this morning and to the prospects for a buyout down the road, the Dow Jones News Service published London-based reporter Norval Scott's long and very positive article on the company's prospects with a revision concerning the percentage of ownership held by Nigerian businessman Sir Emeka Offor, K.C., who controls the company, as requested by ERHC On The Move.


Sir Emeka Offor, K.C., owns 34.98 percent of ERHC, the Dow Jones News Service reported this morning. Earlier reports suggested he owned more than 50 percent. Offor's holdings are critical in a buyout scenario, Joe Shea writes.
Photo: Courtesy of Chrome Energy Services.

In a note to this reporter, Scott said:

Thanks Joe - sorry I wasn't in contact last week but I was taking a much-needed break. I've just put out the relevant correction to the shareholdings and the sentence incorrectly stating the "sole assets" - forgetting the EEZ holdings of course.

Thanks very much for your feedback, glad you liked it. Feedback seems to be mostly positive!

Norval

Offor's holdings are critical in a buyout scenario, and the reduced percentage is likely to attract more interest in the company from suitors wanting to acquire its vast holdings in the Gulf of Guinea. Those include rights in six blocks of the Nigeria-Sao Tome Joint Development Zone and two 100 percent interests in two blocks of Sao Tome's Exclusive Economic Zone, as well as two more 15 percent entitlements in other blocks..

Offor, already a billionaire as measured in Nigeria's currency, the Naira, may become a U.S. Dollar multibillionaire if - as predicted here - an offer for the company at $6 per share materializes in March.

The article also removed a few words that made it appear the company's assets were limited to properties in the JDZ. The EEZ rights could also be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on discoveries over the next few years. It is unclear when those blocks may be awarded, but it appears they will follow the auction of similar blocks in the Nigerian Exclusive Economic Zone.

Trading was moderate to heavy in New York this morning after the issue rose 11 percent on the German bourse overnight. ERHC traded two cents higher in early trade, and 35,000 shares were placed in pre-market orders. About 500,000 shares traded by 11:20am EST.

Here is the corrected Dow Jones article released this morning:

REPEAT & CORRECT : ERHC Eyes Nigeria Sao Tome Jackpot

Jan 31 2005

By Norval Scott
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


LONDON (Dow Jones)--A little-known company with no history of producing crude could be on the brink of becoming a significant player in the West African oil game.

Houston-based Environmental Remediation Holding Corp. (ERHC) holds preferential rights in a maritime enclave jointly operated by Nigeria and Sao Tome & Principe, known as the Joint Development Zone. Now the tiny company is set to gain equity in five blocks when the JDZ's second licensing round is finalized, possibly this month or in February.

"We're due our day in the limelight," said Phil Nugent, a Houston-based oil and gas consultant and longtime ERHC shareholder. "At some time the dust will settle and ERHC will be recognized as a viable entity in one of the most prospective oil and gas regions in the world."

West Africa's importance for the global oil market is growing. The U.S., the world's largest consumer, obtains around 12% of its crude from the region, and the U.S. government sees that figure rising to 20% in 2010 and 25% by 2015. With estimates of the JDZ's possible crude reserves ranging from 6 billion to 14 billion barrels, ERHC could eventually become an important supplier of crude to the U.S.

For that to happen, however, ERHC first needs the licensing round process to be concluded - which it has been hoping for since April 2003, when the JDZ's first-ever round was launched. ERHC needs the tender to be concluded, and blocks awarded, so that its preferential rights become concrete equity.

That should transform the fortunes of the company, whose rights are the legacy of a deal struck with Sao Tome in 1997.

ERHC is currently listed on NASDAQ's OTC Bulletin Board and has a market capitalization of $323.63 million. According to its last 10-k filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has no revenue and is over $9 million in debt to its parent company, Chrome Energy. ERHC chairman and owner of Chrome Energy, Nigerian Emeka Offor, controls 34.98% of ERHC according to the 10-k filing. Given the tiny stature of the company, it has often been seen as little more than a real-estate holding vehicle in the JDZ.

However, the company may even grab a JDZ operatorship; it has made joint bids with established U.S. companies Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) for Block 2 and Block 3 in the tender, and also with Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) in Block 4.

"When the awards...in the current JDZ bid round are finalized, it will be a significant step forward," ERHC Chief Executive Ali Memon told Dow Jones Newswires.

However, the conclusion of the licensing process has been continually delayed, leading to some disquiet among shareholders and keeping ERHC's stock price range-bound near the 50 cent mark.

"(We) are seeing some frustration in the lengthy process we've been through...and the slowness of awards has taken its toll," said Greg Sparks, another ERHC shareholder.

However, there is still a sizable core of investors that has stuck with the company. They've endured a painful waiting game, not least in 2001, when a dispute with Sao Tome meant that ERHC almost lost its JDZ rights altogether. Eventually, Offor, the company's new owner, was able to re-negotiate the contracts, thus keeping hold of the firm's only assets.

ERHC's patience may soon be rewarded. In October 2004, the Joint Development Authority, which governs the JDZ, closed the first licensing round, only awarding one block. It then re-offered five blocks in a month-long tender that closed Dec. 15, and these are expected to be awarded in January or February, although there may be further delays. ERHC has preferential rights of between 15% and 30% in all five blocks.

Edmund Daukoru, Energy Adviser to the Nigerian President, told the News Agency of Nigeria earlier this month that he believes the awards would be made by the end of January.

Some shareholders reckon that the completion of the licensing process could have a dramatic impact on the value of the company. "Once the awards are announced and our rights validated, we should see the share price multiplying," said Nugent.

Should ERHC's rights be validated through the block awards, the company's next move is unclear. Selling off its stakes to the highest bidder is one option, said Olly Owen, African analyst with U.S.-based economic consultancy Global Insight.

"Overall, the new crop of privately controlled domestic oil companies in Nigeria don't seem to be in the game for the long haul," Owen said.

"That's because slow-developing projects are seen as too high risk, due to the uncertain regional environment for investment. If making its outlay back appears too tortuous and tricky a process, ERHC will probably sell up," he added.

However, shareholders say that ERHC's joint bids for an operatorship in Blocks 2, 3 and 4 mean the company is in the oil game for good.

"I think that for ERHC, this isn't about making a quick buck," said shareholder Nugent. "It's about becoming a viable oil and gas entity, and about building on these holdings."

And ERHC is now looking a more believable prospect as an active petroleum company, says Antony Goldman, Africa Analyst with London-based consultancy Clearwater Research Services.

"ERHC has been trying to strengthen its oil credentials. It's been pretty smart at pulling in Noble and Pioneer as co-bidders, and it's also brought in Ali Memon, a genuine oil man, as president, which gives them more credibility," he said.

"Its position in this round looks far better than a year before, when it just appeared to be a real-estate vehicle. Now ERHC could expedite the extraction of oil in the JDZ," Goldman added.

Hurdles


However, the company must overcome some huge hurdles - namely its lack of revenue and debt load - before achieving those ambitions. But these hurdles shouldn't prevent the company from meeting its post-award obligations, shareholders say.

"It's not hard to structure a deal whereby a company's partners can carry it until first oil production," shareholder Nugent said. "I think that will happen with ERHC."

ERHC's Memon also indicated that such an avenue may be open. "It is our intention to form relationships with entities to maximize the value of our assets," he told Dow Jones Newswires. He added that the company "would be participating in each block according to our interest."

"We hope that a successful exploration program will ultimately result in oil production," he said, although he added the caveat that "there are technical and commercial risks associated with the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons."

It's true that gaining equity and funding is only half the battle for ERHC. The company and its future partners will still have to find oil and gas in the JDZ if it is to really hit the jackpot. But the region does have a high chance of being prospective, said Graham Kellas, project manager with Edinburgh-based energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

"The level of bids seen...suggest that there are sizable prospects in the JDZ," he said. In the second licensing round, for instance, 23 companies made 26 bids, with the top signature bonus offered being ECL International's $175 million for Block 4.

"One of the debates in terms of the geology is whether there are single large structures or smaller multiple areas, but there's no question that there are likely to be oil-prone blocks in the region," he said.

ERHC shareholders have little doubt that they could be involved with something special.

"Our minnow is swimming with the sharks," said shareholder Sparks. "It's maneuvered itself to win (in an area where) the seismic data indicates world-class oil reserves. Current ERHC investors are in on the bottom floor of a skyscraper."

Company Web site: http://www.erhc.com

(In an item timed around 1528 GMT Friday Jan. 21 and 0551 GMT Monday Jan 24, a description of ERHC's assets was incomplete and Emeka Offor's beneficial ownership was incorrect).

-By Norval Scott, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-9344;
norval.scott@dowjones.com

My Predictions For The JDZ Block Awards

A lot of readers have been writing me at amreporter(at)aol.com to ask when and what the price after the block awards might be. For me, the more important question is: "Who is going to win the blocks?"

After a lot of thought about the whole context of the awards - the relative financial needs of Sao Tome and Nigeria, the political influence of the competitors, the timing of LNG projects, the offer of other blocks outside the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone and Exclusive Economic Zones, even the potential for a collapse of the process if awards are repeatedly delayed - I have come to the conclusion that they are likely to be announced this coming week, and probably on Feb. 4.

In fact, I have made a $1,000 bet on that date - and more about that later. Also, more about my expectations as to price.

I have examined the best I can, largely from an intuitive point of view informed by a lot of reading, the issue of who the winners will be, and list them, below. I will certainly welcome the Comments of ERHC On The Movereaders on my selections.

A caveat: The Academy Awards have probably not generated quite so much speculation among ERHC and other JDZ investors, and as with the Oscars someone is certainly going to be wrong. It may well be me.

Here, in reverse order (just like the Oscars), we go:

Block 6 - I do not believe Block 6 will be awarded. ERHC's 15 percent piece of this block will have to await a third licensing round.

Block 5 - I do not believe Block 5 will be awarded, either. If oil is found in the Blocks 2, 3 and 4, the price for which Blocks 5 and 6 will go may be much higher. This is bad news (if it comes to pass) for the ICC-OEOC consortium, which I think are going to be shut out, but I believe Sahara Energy fields will get a deal (see below) based on their other Sao Tome interests.

Block 4 - I believe Anadarko Petroleum will capture operatorship and 51 percent of Block 4, but the interesting thing, I think, is that four other players may participate (and most will think that's too many). In descending order of percentages of the pie, I think the other explorers in Block 4 will be Noble/ERHC, Hercules Oil/Centurion Energy/Stratar Energy, and Energy Equity Resources.

This block will be awarded on the basis of two things, I think: 1) The perceived ability to pay, which high bidders Conoil and ECL do not have, and 2), the ability to bring deepwater wells online rapidly, which is why the ERHC/Noble venture is likely to gain a 30 percent share.

Block 3 - Anadarko will lose the top spot in this block to the solid Devon Energy/Pioneer Natural Resources/ERHC bid, giving us a 61 percent operatorship. Anadarko will get 20 percent, and Energy Equity Resources and Sahara Energy Fields will walk away with two sub-10 percent portions.

This block allotment would satisfy both political and financial needs, while also getting the job done for the national treasuries of both nations. It is also a great win for us.

Block 2 - The Indians will be 51-percent victors in this one. Credit their long ties to Nigeria, their coming purchase of three state-owned refineries, and their determination to be players in the African fields - and a wise, timely tie-up with the well-connected Wade Cherwayko of Equator Exploration, backed by the fat bankroll of South African gold magnate Sir Sam Jonah.

The fact that Equator's stock has fallen rather hard in the past two days of trading signals less an unsuccessful outcome than a costly deal with the Indians, since EEL brings little to the table. The Indians have Reliance Industries behind them, and coffers do not come deeper than those.

But this doesn't mean ERHC is out: We'll get a second minority share here with our Devon Energy/Pioneer Natural Resources partners, and probably 40 percent.

I suspect Foby Engineering will also get a 9 percent piece of this block, signalling the owner's coming-of-age as an investor in First Atlantic Bank PLC, whose 60 million shares of ERHC will prosper mightily - and very suddenly - if the block awards are announced as I predict. The bank stands to make $60 million or more in a single day. Foby's cost to play is high, though, and it might be unwise for him to hold his portion much beyond the signing of the PSC.

So where does that leave ERHC? In very good shape, if short of cash.

And where does that leave our share price? At the aforementioned (in an earlier post, that is) $1.78 immediately (i.e., in three days) after the awards. But last night I had a dream in which the price on the OTC BB hit $2.799. Wouldn't that be nice? It would be, indeed, and not at all undeserved.

And my bet? Well, I bet against myself in giving my wife a $1,000 check for Christmas, post-dated to Feb. 4. You know what they say about a woman scorned, so I am very hopeful awards will occur on that day or before.

Obasanjo Wows 'Em in Davos

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was one of the more influential speakers at this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, blue-collar economist Paul Petillo writes in The American Reporter.

On a stage with Bono, Tony Blair and other luminaries, Obasanjo apparently took on the hyper-articulate former President Bill Clinton and, in the minds of many, came out ahead.

The story appears at http://www.american-reporter.com.

Said Petillo:

The economic influences that lead to national strength are vastly different than they were a decade ago. The future beckons for African leaders and the quest to join the elite, the financially endowed nations, the masters of the marketplace, is the driving force that has kept many struggling countries from simply crumbling.

The president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, was correct in refuting former President Bill Clinton's assumption that leadership, developed through systems, cheap medications and debt relief were the keys to healing the ills in this troubled part of the world.

Obasanjo, sharing the stage with Bono, BIll Gates, Tony Blair and Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, said in clear but punctuated tones that the problem was capacity. Economics would solve the problem, he seemed to suggest, understanding that this was the reason many of his people chose life abroad to life in Nigeria. He gave as an example, 5,000 doctors who, according to Obasanjo, trained in his country but practice in foreign lands.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, a key decision-maker in the JDZ awards process, scored points with the press in a joint appearance with Bono, PM Tony Blair, former President Bill Clinton and Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.Photo: Courtesy of African Databases.com.

In a report on the same event - the bggest crowd-pleaser at this year's forum, attended by some of the world's richest and most influential people - The Boston Globe also quoted Obasanjo's plea for aid to the developing and impoverished nations of Africa.

The panel attracting the biggest audience yesterday featured Clinton, Blair, Gates, the presidents of South Africa and Nigeria, and U2 rock singer Bono discussing whether the seven wealthiest nations and Russia -- the Group of Eight -- will take action to end poverty in Africa.

A report to the UN this month concluded that poverty can be cut in half by 2015 and eliminated by 2025 if the world's richest countries, including the United States, Japan, and Germany, more than double aid to the poorest countries.

At stake is life or death for tens of millions of people, it said.

"We need this critical mass of resources to make a change, to make a difference," President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria said.

Blair, who is making Africa a focus of his leadership of the G-8 this year, said the continent's plight is ''a scar on the conscience of the world." He reiterated his call for an African Commission to analyze what is wrong and prescribe how ''to put it right."

''The absolutely key thing is to agree that the end objective is a very substantial uplift in aid," he said.

Gates, who has amassed an estimated $48 billion as founder of Microsoft, said millions of children in Africa could be saved if there were enough resources.

''The fact that we don't apply the resources to the known cures or to finding better cures is really . . . the most scandalous issue of our time," he said.

Gates, who has been one of the largest contributors to alleviating global poverty, recently pledged $750 million to support immunization programs in developing countries.

That story appears online this morning on The Globe's Boston.com site, at http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/
01/28/rich_nations_urged_to_aid_africas_poor/
.

ERHC Charges Ahead Of Deep-Pocket Partners

A simple graph analysis of trends in the stocks of ERHC and its MoU partners in the Gulf of Guinea oil concession showdown - Pioneer Natural Resources, Noble Energy and Devon Energy - show all four have steadily grown, but that ERHC currently outpaces all of them in rate of growth.

The chart presented some irony, because the three other companies all reported substantial growth, share buybacks and additional acreage and reserves, while ERHC's annual report was most noted for its removal of the "Ongoing Concern" qualification by getting high-interest loans from its chairman.

The chart, first posted on the Raging Bull ERHC message board by one of its most respected posters, balance builder, also shows that ERHC is quite a bit more volatile than the other energy companies, with higher highs and lower lows along a four-year trendline that keeps on rising.

If, as expected, a signing of the Production Sharing Contract for Block 1 is followed by the award of concessions in the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone late next week, the ERHC chart could look far, far better than it already does. The reverse could also be true if there are new delays.

The chart is at: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5y&s=ERHC.OB
&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=pxd+nbl+dvn.

That this could be so despite the fact that ERHC has not earned a penny of revenue in four years and is some $9 million in debt - and is still awaiting awards that have been delayed for more than a year - is remarkable in itself.

The stock surely owes much to two long, in-depth stories, one on Page 1 of the Los Angeles Times on March 24, 2003, and the other on the Dow Jones Newswire on Jan. 24, 2005. Both tell the same story, of a company that became involved early in the search for oil in the Gulf of Guinea, made some early and important deals, and held on through thick and thin as it sought to validate valuable oil rights that could be worth billions of dollars.

But balance builder also had a dramatic retort to two bashers, mongo and monkeytrots, two South African gay men who live together in New York City and were profiled in the New York Times after they furnished their apartment entirely from discarded objects left in Dumpsters and on city streets.

The pair of garbage collectors have relentlessly demeaned ERHC, using expired statements from SEC filings and charges that insiders have been selling the stock. They tend to post many times each day.

Although there have been many shares registered for sale, the reliable MSN MoneyCentral Website "BB" linked to demonstrates that none were actually sold.

In fact, some 60 million shares were transferred to a company that sued ERHC's controlling stakeholder, Sir Emeka Offor, but not ERHC. Offor paid for the shares out of his own pocket, and then acquired 25 million more in a Dec. 24, 2004 rehypothecation of ERHC debt.

Those transferred shares never moved through a stock exchange and are restricted; they cannot be sold for at least a year by the plaintiff in that Houston Federal Court lawsuit, First Atlantic Bank of Nigeria Plc. They represent 9.6 percent of ERHC's stock.

Another person thought to have been a seller, former company spokesman John Coleman, has also hung on to some 5,000,000 shares he owns, the site shows (it lists no sellers, so what it actually shows is a blank space).

The site balance builder posted is http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/
insider/trans.asp?Symbol=erhc.

ChevronTexaco Says Block 1 PSC To Be Signed 'Shortly'

Providing a much-needed boost to the battered and wait-weary hopes of ERHC investors, a Dow Jones News Service story this morning quoted a ChevronTexaco spokesman as saying the company expects to sign the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for Block 1 of the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone "shortly."

Here is the comment:

... Donnie MacDonald, general manager in charge of Deepwater Ventures, said ChevronTexaco had in the last two years doubled its position in deepwater, and had become the number one in Nigeria.
...
He said the contract for Block 1 in the Joint Development Zone would be signed "shortly," but gave no details.

"We are trying to sign the JDZ agreement very, very soon," he said.

The news release is available at the company's Website, at http://www.chevron.com.

Vitrina, an online Sao Tome newspaper Thursday, cited statements by the country's Energy and Environment Minister, Arlindo Carvalho, as saying that it would likely be signed within "a fortnight" - two weeks. Carvalho spoke to the press after a meeting of the nation's National Petroleum Council at the presidential palace presided over by Sao Tome's oresident, Fradique de Menezes.

The statements by Carvalho contradicted the comments last month by Nigerian energy advisor Dr. Edmund Daukoru that there was no dispute between the two nations holding up the much-delayed PSC. Daukoru contended that a clause required by Sao Tome under a model "transparency" law enacted late in 2004 was being reviewed by the parties and that Christian and Muslim holidays had made the signing difficult to arrange.

But Carvalho said the demand by Nigeria for a part of the Sao Tome Exclusive Economic Zone of Sao Tome and Principe where the Hercules Blcok 246 overlaps was at the core of the dispute, and Carvalho called the isue "one of the fundamental conditions" for signing the pact with ChevronTexaco, the operator in Block 1, along with particpants ExxonMobil and Energy Equity Resources of Norway.

"If not for the difficulties created by the Nigerians," Carvalho said, the block would have been signed long ago.

The news from ChevronTexaco immediately buoyed the price of ERHC on the OTC Bulletin Board, where it had fallen half a cent after the opening to $0.485. Within a minute of the release, the price moved back uo to $0.50, a cent ahead of the opening in New York. At 10:16, the bid was $0.49 and the ask $0.51, with a brisk 224,036 shares changuing hands.

Investors had anticipated vigorous buying today ahead of the expected signing of the Block 1 pact that resulted from the Oct. 15 conclusion of Round 1 of the licensing process. The signing apparently has to precede the awards of Blocks 2 through 6 that follow the closing of the bids in Round 2 on Dec. 15. Those awards have been delayed since a Dec. 31 deadline set by Dr. Daukoru passed uneventfully. The Block 1 signing has been twice delayed, from Dec. 15 to Jan. 10, and is now expected to occur on Feb. 2.

There are some indications that World Bank officials have advised Sao Tome to delay a third round of licensing involving only Sao Tome's Exclusive Economic Zone for as long as three years to await discoveries and oil price hikes in the nine blocks the two nations share jointly.

As ERHC Fails To Ignite, Questions Grow

Is ERHC lagging behind its Gulf of Guinea MOU partners Pioneer, Devon and Noble for any good reason? Their share prices have risen substantially today as ours has fallen nearly 4 percent. Yet, we are all making the same immense play for Nigerian oil, and many believe ERHC has an inside track.

At 3:17pm EST, Pioneer Natural Resources was up $1.78, Devon Energy up $0.47 and Noble Drilling up $0.46. ERHC was down $0.02 on volume of 683,431 shares. Sellers continue to control the price while ERHC is supposedly just a few days away from being awarded nearly one billion barrels of unproved crude oil reserves.

Yes, I think there are several impediments in the path to profit for ERHC investors. I'm not sure I have listed them all below, but, principally, they are:

• Shareholders are growing edgy after the market failed to respond to a very positive but largely undistributed Dow Jones Newswire article by Norval Scott. The story contained several key errors about our assets, our controlling stakeholder's holdings and our competition for blocks in the Nigeria-Sao Tome Joint Development Zone, and left out recent news about a successful lawsuit, insider sales and share dilution. Worst of all, it did not appear on important financial news sites and gave the stock no meaningful boost.
  
  
• Readers of ERHC On The Move have learned that while we are still hopeful of being awarded at least two operatorships in the five JDZ blocks on offer, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation has also partnered - apparently in secret, as their name wasn't on any list of bidders announced by the JDZ on Dec. 15 - with one or more bidders in one or more blocks.
  
  
• There has been informed speculation in our Comments section that the two 25 percent preferential entitlements in each of any two of the five blocks on offer may have gone to the NPDC effort. If so, that might mitigate against any operatorship being awarded to the Pioneer/Devon Energy/ERHC partnerships in Blocks 2 and 3, and against the Noble Drilling/ERHC partnership in Block 4.
  
  
• The NPDC's parent, the Nigerian National Petroleum Coorporation, has quietly revealed that it is directing the NPDC to change the original terms of the JDZ model Production Sharing Contract (PSC) to end payments in crude oil for drillers' exploration and recovery costs. The NNPC will now reimburse such costs in cash - and possibly Nigerian cash, a highly volatile currency.
  
  
• Four multinationals in the space of two weeks have announced plans to build LNG processing plants in Nigeria valued at more than US$20 billion. Those plants will likely never be built, but they are being leveraged against recent seizures of 15 oilfields owned by ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell and others. Those seizures - involving fields that are now pumping 63,000 barrels per day - follow similar ones in several countries, including Venezuela, that have shaken the industry's confidence in their ability to operate in nations where the politics are volatile, or in some cases, just aggressively nationalistic.
  
  
• There have been substantial LNG discoveries in Canada, where all the multinationals feel comfortable, and substantial progress under the Bush administration in recent weeks towards the opening of formerly restricted areas of the Alaskan wilderness to drilling. In addition, less complicated awards are being made in Libya on a timely and even rapid basis, and likely prospects are available in other parts of Africa. Niogeria is also planning an auction of blocks when the JDZ awards are concluded.
  
  
• The awards, and a sentinel PSC that is awaiting signature by ExxonMobil, have been repeatedly delayed - even from dates announced with great confidence and certainty by the petroleum advisor to President Olusegun Obasanjo, Dr. Edmund Daukoru. No one has managed to predict with accuracy the date on which they may be made.

Lest I be accused of "bashing" by the ignorant, I again offer this disclosure: I hold 123,040 shares long that I have been planning to sell at an exit point in the $1.50 - $2 range. In the event the price falls below $0.44 anytime soon, I may add 200,000 shares to my portfolio (and I may not).

That means I remain optimistic that the awards will happen. In fact, I made out a substantial check to my wife at Christmas that is post-dated to reflect the date on which I expect the awards will occur. That date is at least a week away.

Nigeria May Return Seized Oilfields, Daukoru Says

The 15 oilfields seized from four multinational oil companies in Nigeria may be returned to them, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, the nation's top energy advisor said, apparently when the companies leveraged their multibillion LNG projects against the seizures.

ERHC On The Move reported the seizures two weeks ago. According to the government, 24 fields were seized from multinationals and local companies. The government said the fields were not developed until they stepped in, and that together they are now producing at the rate of 63,000bpd, or more than $1 billion of crude a year. The fields hold an estimated 100 millions barrels of oil.

According to an article in The Punch of Nigeria, a widely-read and generally reliable publication there, Daukoru told The Punch correspondent Micheal Faloseyi that "oil companied claimed that the revocation order would affect some of the liquefied natural gas expansion projects."

Each of the major oil companies in Nigeria, including ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell and Total have planned LNG processing plants announced over the past month that total more than $20 billion in value. None of the plants hzve a start date, and the plans are widely seens as efforts by the multinationals to gain the upper ground in the battle royale being fought for concessions in the Gulf Of Guinea and in Nigeria.

The Jan. 26 article in The Punch reported:

Revocation of oil blocks threatens liquefied

Micheal Faloseyi, Abuja

The Federal Government’s recent revocation of 24 oil blocks belonging to four multinational crude oil exploration and production firms, is now threatening some of the liquefied natural gas expansion projects in the country.

That order might already have jeopardised the projected $22 million revenue the Federal Government planned to realise from the sales of the oil blocks.

Presidential Adviser on Petroleum and Energy Matters, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, had in an interview with our correspondent, confirmed The Punch exclusive report on the revocation order, when he said that the affected oil companies were protesting that decision by the Federal Government.

He said that the oil companies claimed that the revocation order would affect some of the liquefied natural gas expansion projects.

Daukoru said that the government was studying their protest and that it might return some of those oil blocks that are relevant to liquefied natural gas expansion projects. But, he said this would not be until their claims have been verified.

The Adviser said that the only thing that could make the Federal Government recapitulate on the revocation order, was proof of the claims by the oil firms that some of the oil blocks were dedicated to liquefied natural gas projects.

He said that the government could not be swayed by the allegations that the delay, or shortfall in government counterpart funding of oil and gas projects, was responsible for the long period of abandonment of the affected oil blocks.

According to him, “We are saying that within the available resources, these oil blocks have taken the back seat in terms of activities all these years. We are not just talking of five years to six years. We are talking of over 15 years.”

The article appears at http://www.punchng.com/business/article02

Smaller companies are apparently unaffected by today's move. They originally bid for and won some concessions without adequate cash to develop them, hoping instead to sell them to a major producer for a quick profit. That has not happened. In some cases, the majors have not displayed much interest in developing the fields, either, depriving the government of what can be a potent revenue stream.

Financial Times Cites Offor Deal In Sao Tome Corruption

In an article this morning by Michael Peel, West Africa correspondent for the London-based Financial Times, ERHC chairman Sir Emeka Offor was singled out today as an example of the corruption that the so-called "oil curse" may bring to the impoverished island nation of Sao Tome and Principe.

A $100,000 payment by Offor in 2002 "to a business owned by Sao Tome's President Fradique] Menezes," which Menezes has said was a campaign contribution intended for his re-election effort, was mentioned by Peel as evidence of the "curse" that allegedly follows the arrival of oil riches in impoverished parts of Africa.

Offor was also required by the Sao Tome deal to pay for the British education of the son of a key oil official, and to donate substantial sums for youth sports and educational programs, other mews articles and contract terms indicate.

Peel did not contact Offor for his side of the story.

Under the headline "Oil curse stalks Africa's new petro-state," Peel borrowed an image from an earlier article about poor residents living in the shadows of a crumbling cocoa plantation, and then spoke to a candidate for Parliament at a nightclub for background.

But concerns remain about a possible slide towards the kind of oil-related corruption that has undermined politics and economic well-being in Nigeria since the 1970s.

In 2002, a company controlled by Sir Emeka Offor, the Nigerian businessman who chairs Environmental Remediation Holding Corporation, a company holding valuable preferential bidding rights for oil exploration blocs, paid $100,000 to a business owned by São Tomé's President Fradique de Menezes.

Mr de Menezes has said the money was for political campaigning rather than a bribe.

In one of the capital's night clubs, an aspiring parliamentarian explains how being in government is “the only way to survive”: it allows access to lucrative contracts that are scarce in the country's tiny private sector. Opposite him, a sitting MP cheerfully describes how he runs a successful customs clearing business. “We are the ones with the money,” he says.

Mr de Menezes's government was deposed for a few weeks in 2003 in a bloodless coup whose leaders protested about management of the country's wealth.

The article was vague about the alleged corruption but hailed a new "transparency" law passed by Sao Tome's Parliament and noted the "international excitement surrounding a country widely styled as Africa's newest state."

The British writer, whose brother Quentin Peel is a top columnist at the paper, quoted one Sao Tomean on the nation's former slave trade with Portugal, "We are all cousins here."

The article can be found at
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8d39dd48-6ff5-11d9-850d-00000e2511c8.html

On the issue that most concerns ERHC investors - the date awards will be announced - Peel was almost silent. The best he could offer was "soon":

The auction for the first exploration licence in a deep water zone being developed jointly with Nigeria is expected soon to yield São Tomé about $50m, or almost four times last year's total estimated government tax revenues. Estimates of the amount of oil in the zone run to more than 10bn barrels, although no reserves have yet been proved.

It was unclear why, with the recent arrest and confession of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's son, the baronet Mark Thatcher, and the ongoing U.S. Senate probe of illegal payments by ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Marathon Oil and others in Equatorial Guinea, Peel searched out the Offor anecdote to illustrate his otherwise unsupported case.

Nigerians To Change Terms Of Oil Contracts In JDZ, And Take Over Offshore Blocks; NPDC Also Says It Has Partnered In JDZ

The Nigerian state-owned company that is building a national petroleum company said it would begin changing contractual terms that now allow its foreign joint venture partners to be paid in crude oil to recover their exploration costs, and was bidding in the Nigeria-Sao Tome Joint Development Zone for some of the blocks on offer.

Now it will pay in cash, it said, apparently because of the soaring price of oil, which neared $50 per barrel yesterday.

In a story in the respected Nigerian daily The Guardian and first reported on Monday in the daily Financial Standard, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC) said it plans to exercise the policy in the Nigeria-Sao Tome Joint Development Zone (JDZ).

Most surprising was the claim that the NPDC is among the bidders for some of the blocks on offer in the current licensing round. Prior to today's news, which was couched in vague language at the end of a long story, the government had not revealed that any bids from the NPDC were pending in the Nov. 15 licensing round, which closed Dec. 15.

As a contractual issue, both the secret bidding and the new terms could delay signing of Production Sharing Contracts in the Joint Development Zone that are affected by the oil-for-costs provisions.

The NPDC company has seized 15 oilfields from three multinationals in recent weeks and was planning to take over others offshore.

The Guardian said:

NNPC may review policy on strategic alliance with oil firms
By Yakubu Lawal
THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) may have reviewed its policy on strategic alliance with oil companies in the upstream sector.

Specifically, the corporation will under such partnership pay cash for its commitment to the agreement as against crude oil being used in the previous deal.

A top executive in the NNPC told The Guardian that the new policy thrust is a departure from the former agreement where the corporation paid operators of such alliance with crude oil.

...

"There was need for us to review this kind of agreement and that we have done. We will not use crude oil to pay for such services in our subsequent agreement, rather we shall make payment in cash," the source said.

"The Guardian sources stated further that for Chinese firm, which had indicated interest to work with the NNPC's subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the new policy would apply to them.

"If we are lucky and we experience high crude oil, mode of payment will be faster, but if otherwise, we will make out money to pay them out of the crude oil produced from such fields," the source said.

According to the official, the main reason for going into such alliance is to have access to fund for the development and be able to improve on the technical skill of the Nigerian workers.

...

Last year, three multinationals ceded the operatorship of five fields to NPDC, while the company was also brazing up to take over blocs in the deep water area.

It was also gathered that plans were in top gear to bid for oil blocs in some African countries to strengthen the tentacles of the nation's oil firm.

...

Officials of the NNPC also stated that NPDC would participate in the Joint Development Zone oil average between Nigerian, Sao Tome and Principe.

The officials also pointed out that in the soon to be flag-off bidding round by the government NPDC would seek to acquire more blocs along with some partners.

Indians Move To Get Control Of Nigerian Oil Refineries

The government-owned Indian Oil Corporation has moved to gain control of three of Nigeria's largest refineries, state-owned operations in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, the Vanguard daily newspaper reported this morning.

The move follows a series of attempts to encourage other refiners, including U.S.-based multinationals ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco, to take over the sites, which are running at about 60 percent of capacity.

President Olusegun Obasanjo has demanded that the Port Harcourt refinery - a client of Chrome Oil Services, the company whose founder, Sir Emeka Offor, owns the controlling stake in ERHC - be completed by March 25, 2005.

IOC mounts diplomatic pressure to acquire Nigeria's refineries
By Hector Igbikiowubo
Posted to the Web: Tuesday, January 25, 2005

The Indian Oil Corporation has commenced diplomatic moves to enable it to acquire controlling stake in three refineries of Nigeria, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna. It will be recalled that the IOC had submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) for acquiring 51 percent stake in the NNPC owned refineries late last year.

A presidency official who pleaded anonymity disclosed that the IOC had been in touch with the ministry of petroleum resources and the presidency regarding the sale of controlling interests in the refineries, adding that pressure from the Indians was beginning to mount.

The presidency official explained that although pressure was also coming from the Chinese and other potential investors, the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration will ensure that controlling interests in the refineries are disposed off in a tidy and transparent manner.

He noted that given the growing need for crude oil and petroleum products in China and India, their desperation is understandable, adding, however, that potential investors in the refineries would not have to wait much longer than March this year.

The presidency official also pointed that the President has given matching orders to the NNPC and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) to ensure that the Port Harcourt Refining Company is privatised before the 25th of March. He recalled that government has spent over $700 million since 1999 on refurbishing the refineries and other downstream petroleum facilities which have output capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.

...

Vanguard also gathered that the Federal Government had earlier tried to get the major oil exploration and production companies including Shell, Mobil, ChevronTexaco, Total and Agip to participate in the privatisation programme but this has not yielded any fruitful results.

But the Indians want Nigerian crude oil as feed-stock for refineries back home, in return for the refinery turn-around maintenance jobs.
...

SEC Responds To Complaint On Dow Jones Story Distribution

The Securities Exchange Commission has initiated an investigation and is contacting E*Trade and possibly other brokers to determine why a substantial story on ERHC was not promptly distributed to all its customers, the SEC told ERHC On The Move.

The story was still not on E*Trade's portfolio news area for its ordinary customers, although it did get posted three days after its initial release on Power E*Trade's premium Dow Jones Newswire, and is now linked in searches for ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Pioneer Natural Resources, Noble Drilling, Devon Energy and other oil companies.

ERHC On The Move on Sunday threatened to relocate its account from E*Trade to a full-service broker if the news story by DJNS writer Norval Scott was not posted. The site ran the Dow Jones feed of it at 12:51am EST Monday morning.

The story first moved out of London on Friday morning, New York time, at 10:28am, but was so poorly distributed that even by Tuesday night, the only site that could be linked to was the private Schlumberger oil services firm Website (see link in an earlier post).

That occasioned our complaint that only a few investors were getting word of the article - many of them through the ERHC On The Move story about its posting on Raging Bull's ERHC message board, also at 10:48am EST - while others at Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg.com, TD Waterhouse, E*Trade, Scott Trade and other online brokerages did not inform their customers.

Here is the SEC's response:

Dear Mr. Shea:

Thank you for your email complaining about the problem you've been experiencing with your brokerage firm.

Your complaint is important to the SEC because investor complaints alert the SEC to possible securities fraud and abuse and are often the first indicators of wrongdoing. The SEC keeps a database of information about the complaints we receive. This database allows us to track whether a troubling situation may be developing about a particular issue, company, broker, stock, or other securities product. The information you have provided will be reflected in our database.

In an effort to assist you, we have sent your complaint to the firm's compliance department and have directed the firm to provide a written response to our office and to you. It usually takes the firm four to eight weeks to prepare and send a written response.

...

Once again, thank you for your email. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Sincerely,

CHERYL M LAWSON
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(415)705-2479

Meanwhile, investors continue to wait for the Dow Jones News Service to correct several glaring errors - albeit of minor import - regarding the ownership of ERHC, its assets in the EEZ, and one of its competitors for Block 4, ECL International, a Nigerian indigenous firm associated with the owner of Conoil, another bidder, Nigerian businessman Mike Adenuga.

Director of Corporate Communications Robert Christie told ERHC On The Move on Monday that his office was preparing a response to our request for corrections, but emailed us Monday night to say the rersponse was delayed because the story originated in London. There was no further communication from him on Tuesday.

The most significant of the errors was that a claim that Sir Emeka Offor owns 50.3 percent of the stock. He currently owns 36.48 percent of ERHC.

The story failed to mention that 9.6 percent is owned by the First Atlantic Bank of Nigeria, whose board if directors include a competing bidder for Blocks 2 through 5 of the Nigeria-Sao Tomes and Principe Joint Development Zone, Engineer E.O. Fobi of Fobi Engineering.

Sale Of Major Position Erodes ERHC Price This Morning

The sale of a single large position has dramatically eroded the price of ERHC this morning, even as the Dow Jones average kicked the doldrums and ran up 105 points.

The ERHC position, possibly one of the large ones taken just yesterday, sold at prices between an opening $.0.535 and $0.49.

By the end of the day, however, the stock had traded up to $0.535, and closed where it opened, at $0.52. Some 1,196,500 changed hands on the OTC Bulletin Board.

Yesterday's purchase of 260,000 shares was the suspect. The last of the shares sold for $0.49. The next trade was a purchase at the $0.50 ask. A total of 343,379 shares traded by 9:57am EST.

A single poster on Raging Bull, claiming to have information from Joint Ministerial Council secretary Sam Dinka, said Dinka told him yesterday that the JMC would meet next week and that the date certain wouild be known on Thursday.

Today that date was pushed back to Friday, but Dinka reportedly said the long-delayed Production Sharing Contract sheduled to be signed first in December and then on Jan. 10 will now be signed on Feb. 1.

Dow Jones News Service writer Norval Scott said in an article published again yesterday that awards of Blocks 2 through 5 may be delayed past the "end of January" deadline set by Nigeria's energy advisor, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, after his first deadline, Dec. 31, 2005, passed. Scott said the delays could extend into the month of February "or longer."

A meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council of the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone that will ratify the awards has been repeatedly delayed, earning widespread derision from many investors.

Meanwhile, the disappointing distribution of a Dow Jones News Service story about ERHC continues to rankle investors. It was posted on the Power E*Trade site and the Schlumberger oil services site, but was impossible to find on Yahoo, Bloomberg and other popular investment Websites. It is also available in a recent post on ERHC On The Move.

ERHC Partner Enjoys Year Of Growth

First Atlantic Bank PLC, the Nigerian partner that owns nearly 10 percent of ERHC, enjoyed a record year of growth and profits thanks to a successful lawsuit against the company, the Nigerian daily newspaper Vanguard reported today.

The bank won 60 million shares in a lawsuit from ERHC chairman Sir Emeka Offor in November 2004. The shares, valued at $0.41 at the time they were transferred by Offor's Chrome Oil Services, have increased more than 25 percent in value since then, a potential profit of $6,600,000 at today's $0.525 closing price.

First Atlantic reported a 108 percent rise in non-interest income.

The bank cannot sell the restricted shares for a year under the terms of the transfer. It has not yet filed a change of ownership statement with the Securities Exchange Commission, although it won the shares as a pre-trial settlement of proceedings in in Houston federal court.

The Vanguard reported:

First Atlantic Bank consolidates on its financial gains, grows gross income
By Omoh Gabriel, Business Editor
Monday, January 24, 2005

FIRST Atlantic Bank Plc in the 2004 financial year consolidated its gains and grew its gross income to N4.145 billion from the previous N2.830 billion in 2003. This represents a 46.4 per cent growth. As a result, net income rose to N3.097 billion in 2004 from N2.181billion in 2003, an increase of 12.2 per cent. The bank thus in 2005 saw a number of its other financial indicators moved up following a better performance in the financial year 2004. The bank’s operations were boosted by non interest income which expanded by 108.2 per cent far and above that of 2003. With an almost all round improvement in revenue lines, the bank retained its triple digit growth in gross revenue, a position it attained in 2000 financial year.

...

Encroachment on earnings also came from loan loss provisioning, which rose to N430.6 million in 2004 from N363.0 million in 2003. The rise was, however, 18.6 per cent but constrained income and as a result reduced profit.

...

Profit margin up

The bank’s profit before taxation which rose from N601 million in 2002 to N609 million in 2003 further rose to N821.0 million in 2004. This represents 34.8 per cent increase in profitability.

The bank’s operating expenses to total revenue rose from 54. per cent in 2002 to 55.5 per cent in 2003. This further rose to 61.1 per cent in 2004. The increase in overhead cost ate deep into the bank’s revenue and had a toll on profit. Also, loan loss provisioning increased at higher figure than the previous year’s. This also impacted negatively on profit. However, the rise in cost elements during the year led to a decrease in the rates of return in the year. Return on total assets which declined from 3.4 per cent in 2002 to 2.9 per cent in 2003 and further to 2.7 per cent in 2004. Return on equity which increased from 12.4 per cent in 2002 to 16 per cen in 2003 further improved as it rose to 19 per cent in 2004. The increase in return on equity was as a result of the growth in capital stock which responded faster than pre-tax profit.

...

Strong liquidity

The bank’s liquidity improved at the end of the year. The bank’s liquidity, which stood at 70.5 per cent in 2002, rose to 76.2 per cent at the end of 2003. However this declined to 71.0 per cent in 2004. The bank during the year complied with the CBN minimum liquidity ratio of 40 per cent. During the year demand deposit accounted for 56.2 per cent of the bank’s total deposit liabilities. Time deposit accounted for 34.1 per cent while Savings was merely 8.4 per cent of total deposit.

...

Management/Board

The bank has nine members on its board of directors. Six of the board member including the chairman, Mr. O’tega Emerchor, are non-executive, while the managing director, Mr. Okey Nwosu, and two others are executive members of the board, thus meeting the regulatory authorities corporate governance which stipulates that non executive directors should at least be one person more than the executive directors. In the bank, 59 shareholders hold 66.62 per cent of the bank’s share while the others hold 28.1 per cent. The bank’s shares are listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange.

...

First Atlantic Bank Plc has been strongly repositioned. With the policy of consolidation, the bank is going into the merger talks with some substance to negotiate with.

The bank's failure to register the shares with the Securities Exchange Commission continues to worry investors, who fear a selloff if the block awards expected soon are not seen as likely to improve ERHC's share price. It is uncertain whether the SEC's runs at all in the case of a Nigerian company, but the shares, to be traded. most be free of restrictions placed upon them by their Registrar in the transfer process.

260K Block moves at .531 At 3:25pm; 1,500 Trade In EH at $0.57

A block of 260,000 shares - possibly the same one purchased last week for .050 - sold today for $0.53, a $7,800 profit if so.

The block was immediately resold by market makers for $0.53.

It was the block's sale that pushed today's ERHC trading volume over 2,000,000.

ERHC continues to trade at $0.53 with volume of 2,190,173 at 3:33pm EST.

Update, 3:44pm: The bid moved up for the first time since late this morning to $0.53 and the ask moved to $0.535 at 3:25, and then to $0.54 in the last 15 minutes of trading.

A block of 198,188 shares moved at the $0.53 bid at 3:45pm EST.

The bid and ask were both at $0.53 shortly thereafter, at 3:47pm EST, when the bid dropped to $0.52 and the ask to $0.525. Trades were mostly at the bid at 3:50pm EST.

At 3:57pm, the bid stood at $0.52 and traders were taking profits there. The volume at 3:58pm EST was 2,596,988.

The last sale, 6,500 shares at the $0.525 bid at 4:00:34, left ERHC up $0.02 for the day on final volume of 2,602,588 shares. That was a $2,460 gain for my own portfolio.

According to E*Trade, a block of 1,500 shares moved at $0.57 in extended hours (EH) trading. EH trading is usually minimal in ERHC, but with blocks expected to be awarded in the Joint Development Zone within days, interest in "our minnow" remains high.

Two 50K Blocks Of ERHC Trade, But No Price Movement

Continuing the pattern of extensive buying but little movement, a 50K block of ERHC moved this morning at $0.53 and pushed volume past 1 million shares by 12:25, but even another 50K buy that moved volume to 1,070,000 failed to budge the asking price.

That last 50K sale was one of 30 nearly consecutive trades at the ask that failed to improve the price, leading Raging Bull posters once again to charge market makers with manipulating the stock.

Among those selling this morning when the stock was briefly at $0.54 at the opening was stockhocker70, a Louisiana man also known as Terry Edwards, who had earlier professed to be long on the stock but has recently posted false and misleading information about insider sales of ERHC.

Edwards has claimed - despite being corrected by many other posters - that 121 million shares of ERHC were traded in recent weeks, but none of the shares were actually traded; slightly more than 60 million restricted shares were transferred to First Atlantic Bank of Nigeria on Nov. 10, 2005 as a settlement of a federal lawsuit in Houston.

Here are the4 actual trades, as reported by the New York Times:

Latest Insider Trades
EMEKA OFFOR 25,397,060 Shares Open Market Purchase
MALCOLM BUTLER 250,000 Shares Proposed Sale (Form 144)
VERTICAL VENTURES 200,000 Shares Proposed Sale (Form 144)
CHROME ENERGY L L C 60,641,800 Shares Open Market Sale
CHROME ENERGY L L C 10,641,800 Shares Open Market Sale

The transfer was reported in separate filings by ERHC and by Sir Emeka Offor as owner of Chrome Oil Services, which held the shares. The transferred shares are subject to certain restrictions by the Securities Exchange Commission and may not be sold for a one-year ending Nov. 10, 2005.

Dow Jones Story Moves On E*Trade, But Without Corrections

After a lot of pressure from its customers, the premium Power E*Trade site - but not the E*Trade site for normal customers - carried the Dow Jones article on ERHC this morning but did not correct two relatively minor mistakes.

The piece by Norval Scott of the Dow Jones News Service's London bureau moved again on the wires shortly after midnight at 00:51:53 with a Jan. 24 dateline and the stock opened $.045 higher in New York trading.

The news cheered investors on the Raging Bull message board. This reporter was among those wrtiting to E*Trade and threatening to move substantial accounts if the story. which was first released at 10:28am EST on Friday, Jan. 21, was not posted.

Although Dow Jones' Director of Corporate Communications Robert H. Christie has been notified of the two errors in the story - since Nov. 10, Sir Emeka Offor has controls only 36.5 percent of ERHC, not 50.3 percent as the story stated, and its rights include two full blocks of the Exclusive Ecnomic Zone of Sao Tome, not just in the five blocks on offer - it did not correct the mistakes.

The correction on the holdings of Offor would be significant because the company is a more likely take-over target if there is no shareholder controlling more than 50 percent of the stock.

Is An ERHC Buyout In The Works?

Will ERHC sell its rights in the Nigeria-Sao Tome Joint Development Zone after blocks are awarded next week?

That's a question that has bedeviled investors and analysts alike, with this investor (I hold 123,000 shares) believing that yes, a buyout in the $6 range will occur in March. I base that on the pattern of accumulation investors have noticed in recent months, which suggest that someone other than short sellers has a motivation to keep the price low.

Friday's global release of a highly upbeat 1,500-word story by the Dow Jones Newswire, for instance, prompted almost 2.5 million shares of volume but only a $0.025 rise in share price.

I believe accumulators seeking a merger or buyout are doing so in groups, acquiring enough to keep them under the radar of the SEC filing requirements for those who have accumulated 5 percent of a company, or in groups somehow outside of SEC regulation. I understand, anecdotally, that ERHC was acquired that way from its founders the first time it ever changed hands.

Now, with First Atlantic Bank holding a block of 60 million shares - one it would presumably be willing to sell since it has been forced to merge with three other Nigerian banks to build up its reserves - and founder Sir Emeka Offor holding only about 36.48 percent (note that the 50.3 percent mentioned in the Dow Jones article is incorrect, having failed to account for the First Atlantic acquisition) - the potential for a change of ownership has increased dramatically.

We are not the first to suggest the possibility of a sale, and the company has a disclosed an arrangement to compensate one consultant in the event a sale is arranged by him. Their new lawyer, Frank Cascio, is also someone with oil company merger experience. Finally, the company took note in a recent filing that someone is gaming its shares outside of ERHC's control.

Meanwhile, the problem of short sellers was sharply reduced when ERHC appeared for nine days on the SEC's new Threshhold Securities List and then dropped off. MasterTrade, a company that used to make shares available to investors for short sales, now says "ERHC is no longer available to short."

So who and what is keeping the price down?

Again, I believe it is a company that is already associated with ERHC, or well known to it, that hopes to buy as much of ERHC as possible before completing its purchase with a buyout of some of founder Emeka Offor's shares. That would leave him in a comfortable back seat position, still able to profit but no longer so profoundly at risk. Many predicted he would never accept a lower profile - even as he did so, according to the Menas Associates energy consulting group, which said (after I did) that his lowered profile has already happened:

Some potential difficulties to a tie-up have been overcome. A veteran of the US oil industry has been appointed managing director of ERHC, in place of Chude Mba, and the decision of key shareholder ‘Sir’ Emeka Offor to take a lower profile in the company’s affairs has undoubtedly reduced the risk of partnership with ERHC for a potential US operator like Devon, given its concerns about compliance with US regulatory regimes.

According to Ken Silverstein's May 24, 2003, article in the Los Angeles Times:

About 4 billion barrels of crude are believed to lie beneath those waters. Without a drilling rig to its name, ERHC could reap hundreds of millions of dollars from its holdings. The company has not revealed its plans, but analysts predict it will sell its interest to one of the industry giants.

The theme was repeated in the Jan. 24, 2005, article by Dow Jones Newswires reporter Norval Scott:

Should ERHC's rights be validated through the block awards, the company's next move is unclear. Selling off its stakes to the highest bidder is one option, said Olly Owen, African analyst with U.S.-based economic consultancy Global Insight.

"Overall, the new crop of privately controlled domestic oil companies in Nigeria don't seem to be in the game for the long haul," Owen said.

"That's because slow-developing projects are seen as too high risk, due to the uncertain regional environment for investment. If making its outlay back appears too tortuous and tricky a process, ERHC will probably sell up," he added.

What should investors do? I believe that, first, they should not part with their shares under any circumstances until the blocks on offer by the JDZ are finally awarded - something that should occur next week.

Secondly, if they are interested in not just a quick profit but a long-term one, they should hold the security at least through the end of March. Then, if it is not bought out or merged, it will probably drop as the high cost of exploration and discovery loom ahead.

I plan to sell at a certain exit price, although I must say it keeps changing. I was initially set on selling at $1.20 and believed it would go as high as $1.28; I reined in my expectations due to the failure of good news to move the price earlier, dialing it all the way back to $0.78.

Now, depending on how widely the Dow Jones article gets circulated and how much of the JDZ we are awarded, I am hoping for something in the $1.78 range. What I have not decided is whether I should sell all my shares and buy something else, or just sell 23,000 and wait through March. I do believe that a buyout is in the works.

As is any decision involving a lot of my money and penny stocks, it is a perilous, risky decision, fraught with anxiety for me.

Day's Big News Fails To Move ERHC Price; SEC Asked To Probe News Distribution

A positive and very substantial article by Dow Jones News Service writer Norval Scott (see earlier post) failed to move ERHC's share price significantly, but volume jumped from an extremely slow 4,900 shares in the first half hour to finish at 2,487,172 by the 4pm EST New York market close.

The reason for the very modest gain was widely debated on Raging Bull, with most posters attributing it to market makers trying to cover short positions or large shareholders selling into the story. Many posters took issue with both explanations.

Meanwhile, the SEC has been asked to investigate the failure of several major stock brokerages to move the Dow Jones story with standard breaking news alerts on their Websites, even as some buyers obviously had the news and began purchasing large blocks.

ERHC On The Move was told by Dow Jones Vice President Robert Christie that a thorough check revealed the story had gone out. However, he said he did not know if a check was made to see if it was received.

[Only one link to the story, at the Schlumberger oil services firm Website, had been found by early Saturday morning. That link is at http://www.schlumberger.com/news/story.cfm?storyid=625140.]

On the premium Power E*Trade site, for instance, which includes the Dow Jones service, no story came up for ERHC even six hours after its apparent release.

On Raging Bull's ERHC message board, links to the story were still not available at 4pm. The Raging Bull board was impossible to reach during much of the day.

At E*Trade, a Website technician was unable to find the story on any trusted site, such as Yahoo or Bloomberg. It also did not appear on ERHC's own Website, although company officials including CEO Ali Memon were quoted in the story. Another E*Trade customer service person said he also failed to find it hours later.

The untimely or early release of a significant news story concerning a U.S. security that makes it available to some investors before others may be a felony under U.S. law (the story originated in London from A U.S.-based firm.) A person responsible for deliberately delaying its delivery for monetary gain is subject to prosecution.

ERHC On The Move posted it at 10:47 EST with no link, having obtained it from the RB message board. Judging from the slow response of the server at times, it appeared that there were many readers here seeking the news.

Author Norval Scott also assured investors by email that it had run on the company's news wires.

By the 4pm EST close, the stock was trading at $0.505, barely $0.025 better than the $0.48 open. The high of the day was reached at 3:59:17, when a block of 100,000 shares were purchased at $0.518.

At Dow Jones, Christie could not explain why it was not available at online brokerage sites ranging from E*Trade, Ameritrade, Bloomberg.com, and Yahoo to Scottrade.com, Telerate and CBS Marketwatch.com, as well as The New York Times online Business page. He referred a caller to another person, Eva Frohman, who did not return calls before post time.

Huge Blocks Move: 300K at $0.501, 286K at $0.50

2:37pm: Huge blocks of shares have been purchased at ask in the past few minutes, but have not moved the share price more than 1/10 of a cent.

The ask even dropped followng those purchases.

Volume now stands at 1,913,737.

The bid is at $0.495 and the ask $0.50.

At 3:38, for the first time since this morning, the bid jumped to $0.53 and the ask to $0.535. Trading steadied at those prices.

Shades Of Jupiter! Dow Jones Says ERHC May Score Jackpot

The long-awaited Dow Jones story by Norval Scott hit the wires moments ago, spotted by a thrice-alert markvo10. Here is the text:

DJ FOCUS:US Oil Company ERHC Eyes Nigeria, Sao Tome Jackpot

By Norval Scott
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON (Dow Jones)--A little-known company with no history of producing crude could be on the brink of becoming a significant player in the West African oil game.

Houston-based Environmental Remediation Holding Corp. (ERHC) holds preferential rights in a maritime enclave jointly operated by Nigeria and Sao Tome & Principe, known as the Joint Development Zone. Now the tiny company is set to gain equity in five blocks when the JDZ's second licensing round is finalized, possibly later this month or in February.

"We're due our day in the limelight," said Phil Nugent, a Houston-based oil and gas consultant and long-time ERHC shareholder. "At some time the dust will settle and ERHC will be recognised as a viable entity in one of the most prospective oil and gas regions in the world."

...

For that to happen, however, ERHC first needs the licensing round process to be concluded - which it has been hoping for since April 2003, when the JDZ's first-ever round was launched. As the company's only assets are its JDZ interests, it needs the tender to be concluded, and blocks awarded, so that its preferential rights become concrete equity.

That should transform the fortunes of the company, whose rights are the legacy of a deal struck with Sao Tome in 1997.

ERHC is currently listed on NASDAQ's OTC Bulletin Board and has a market capitalization of $323.63 million. According to its last 10-k filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has no revenue and is over $9 million in debt to its parent company, Chrome Energy. ERHC chairman and owner of Chrome Energy, Nigerian Emeka Offor, controls 50.3% of ERHC. Given the tiny stature of the company, it has often been seen as little more than a real-estate holding vehicle in the JDZ.

However, the company may even grab a JDZ operatorship; it has made joint bids with established U.S. companiesDevon Energy Corp. (DVN) and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) for Block 2 and Block 3 in the tender, and also with Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) in Block 4.

"When the awards...in the current JDZ bid round are finalized, it will be a significant step forward," ERHC Chief Executive Ali Memon told Dow Jones Newswires.

However, the conclusion of the licensing process has been continually delayed, leading to some disquiet among shareholders and keeping ERHC's stock price rangebound near the 50 cent mark.

"(We) are seeing some frustration in the lengthy process we've been through...and the slowness of awards has taken its toll," said Greg Parks, another ERHC shareholder.

...

ERHC's patience may soon be rewarded. In October 2004, the Joint Development Authority, which governs the JDZ, closed the first licensing round, only awarding one block. It then reoffered five blocks in a month-long tender that closed Dec. 15, and these are expected to be awarded in January or February, although there may be further delays. ERHC has preferential rights of between 15% and 30% in all five blocks.

Edmund Daukoru, Energy Adviser to the Nigerian President, told the News Agency of Nigeria earlier this month that he believes the awards would be made by the end of January.

Some shareholders reckon that the completion of the licensing process could have a dramatic impact on the value of the company. "Once the awards are announced and our rights validated, we should see the share price multiplying," said Nugent.

Should ERHC's rights be validated through the block awards, the company's next move is unclear. Selling off its stakes to the highest bidder is one option, said Olly Owen, African analyst with U.S.-based economic consultancy Global Insight.

"Overall, the new crop of privately controlled domestic oil companies in Nigeria don't seem to be in the game for the long haul," Owen said.

"That's because slow-developing projects are seen as too high risk, due to the uncertain regional environment for investment. If making its outlay back appears too tortuous and tricky a process, ERHC will probably sell up," he added.

...

And ERHC is now looking a more believable prospect as an an active petroleum company, says Antony Goldman, Africa Analyst with London-based consultancy Clearwater Research Services.

"ERHC has been trying to strengthen its oil credentials. It's been pretty smart at pulling in Noble and Pioneer as co-bidders, and it's also brought in Ali Memon, a genuine oil man, as president, which gives them more credibility," he said.

"Its position in this round looks far better than a year before, when it just appeared to be a real-estate vehicle. Now ERHC could expedite the extraction of oil in the JDZ," Goldman added.

Hurdles

However, the company must overcome some huge hurdles - namely its lack of revenue and debt load - before achieving those ambitions. But these hurdles shouldn't prevent the company from meeting its post-award obligations, shareholders say.

"It's not hard to structure a deal whereby a company's partners can carry it until first oil production," shareholder Nugent said. "I think that will happen with ERHC."

ERHC's Memon also indicated that such an avenue may be open. "It is our intention to form relationships with entities to maximize the value of our assets," he told Dow Jones Newswires. He added that the company "would be participating in each block according to our interest."

...

ERHC shareholders have little doubt that they could be involved with something special.

"Our minnow is swimming with the sharks," said shareholder Parks. "It's manoeuvred itself to win (in an area where) the seismic data indicates world-class oil reserves. Current ERHC investors are in on the bottom floor of a skyscraper."

Company Web site: http://www.erhc.com

-By Norval Scott, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-9344; norval.scott@dowjones.com

Update:The stock has already begun to move on the news. The headline itself ought to be worth quite a few pennies, we'd say. After opening very, very slowly - just 4,900 shares in the first half hour - 318,000 shares moved by 10:50 and the stock was up $0.02 at $0.50. Selling appeared shortly thereafter and the share price fell to $0.49, up one cent for the day.

Update. 1:18pm EST: Our prediction that the story would move the stock has not yet been fulfilled, probably because the story is not available from any conventional source, including E*Trade's news and Power E*Trade's Dow Jones wires, nor from Bloomberg.com, Telerate, Ameritrade, Yahoo.com or cbsmarketwatch.com. At
1:22pm EST, the volume has climbed to 884,017 and the price is still at $0.50. As usual with ERHC-related news, there is clearly a snafu - and there always seems to be. It's not even on the ERHC Website!

Barry Morgan: Awards Again Delayed

Writing in UpstreamOnline, veteran oil industry journalist Barry Morgan said awards in the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone no longer seem likely to occur in January as promised by Dr. Edmund Daukoru, petroleum advisor to President and Petroleum Minister Olusegun Obansanjo, but would be delayed two more days.

While Morgan suggested the awards might come immediately following the signing of a Production Sharing Contract on Feb. 2 between the JDZ and Block 1 winners ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and Energy Equity Resources, the signing may in fact be holding the awards hostage.

There was no indication the Feb. 2 date was a certainty. Another possible date advanced was Feb. 4, also the day ERHC shareholders will meet in Houston to consider two proposals by the company for employee stock compensation plans and a name change to ERHC Energy.

The new hint of a delay occasioned some groaning on the Raging Bull ERHC message board, but not much. It remains unclear how much lower the stock may go on a new delay, however, and as it goes lower the prospect for a substantial price after the awards falls with it.

It is clear from news reports in recent delays that the entire process is at risk due to ExxonMobil's reluctance to participate as expected.

Morgan reported:

Block-1 will likely be signed on 2 February in Sao Tome during ceremonies presided over by President Fradique de Menezes hosting his counterpart from Abuja, President Olusegun Obasanjo. Since several key players in the Nigerian industry and administration are Muslim, these arrangements have had to wait till after the Hajj, or annual pilgramage to Mecca, sources indicated.

While intensive meetings were this week scheduled between the Joint Development Authority, ExxonMobil, Pioneer Natural Resources and Anadarko Petroleum, it was clear at presstime that the US supermajor still had not fixed a farminee for its preferential 25% equity rights to JDZ blocks 2 and 4.

Moirgan also noted that an attempt by "one US mid-sized player" to have terms of its bid revisited was rebuffed by Nigerian authorities.

That description may fit either Anadarko Petroleum or Devon Energy. Both placed a bid of $40 million, $1 million lower than that of Energy Equity Resources (a Block 1 winner) in Block 3.

Devon is partnered with Pioneer Natural Resources in the bid, and Pioneer has a Memorandum of Understanding with ERHC that they will negotiate and develop the block together as bids go forward.

Anadarko is "mid-sized," too, at $76 billion in assets compared to giants like ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco.

New Crackdown On Foreign Oil Workers In Nigeria

Nigerian unions are taking the names of foreign oil workers and planning to mount a crippling strike against multinational oil companies that use non-Nigerian labor, the Nigerian daily This Day reported Thursday.

The labor problem is only the latest in a series of moves that suggest the Nigerian government is no longer welcoming foreign players in the oil business. It has demanded they build refineries and refine their domestically-derived oil products locally, that more and more local "indigenous" firm get oil concessions, subjected foreign oil companies to multibillion fines, and seized their oil concessions.

In a late development Thursday, oil workers threatened yet another job action against a Malaysian energy firm for "alleged racial abuse."

This Day reported:

This Day (Lagos)

January 20, 2005
Posted to the web January 20, 2005

Mike Oduniyi
Lagos

Demand recall of expatriates

The nation's oil industry may witness a fresh round of crisis following the threat by senior employees in the sector to embark on strike next week to protest alleged racial abuse by multinational oil firms.

According to THISDAY checks, the strike may hit hard at operations at the Port Harcourt refinery, which only recently achieved 75 percent capacity utilization as well as oil production east of the Niger Delta.
...

"This, the national body of PENGASSAN will not tolerate and we have directed all our members in the Port Harcourt zone to down tools if at the end of the seven-day ultimatum the two expatriates were not recalled. Our position is that the safety of their lives can longer be guaranteed," said the PENGASSAN president, adding that the action could possibly spill over to a nationwide strike.

It would be in furtherance of PENGASSAN [an opikl industry labor union] demand on the Federal Government to check not only the influx of expatriate workers into the nation's strategic oil industry, but even now the growing excesses of the foreigners in subjugating their Nigerian subordinates to inhuman treatment, said Ogbeifun.

The issue of abuse of expatriate quota and influx of foreign oil workers into the country pitched PENGASSAN and NUPENG against many oil companies, including Shell, ExxonMobil and Halliburton last year, leading to frequent industrial unrest in the industry.

THISDAY reported last week that the National Assembly was currently investigating alleged abuse of expatriate quota by multinational oil companies. Specifically, the House of Representatives Committee on Oil and Gas had commenced compilation of names of all expatriates working in the oil companies, especially Nigeria's joint venture partners.

Ogbeifun said PENGASSAN along with NUPENG have been secretly compiling names of foreign workers in surplus at the firms, which are being passed on to the House Committee.

The tenor of relations with the multinationals seem to be signaling a major break with past policy in favor of growing local discontent. The consequences could be far-reaching for both Nigeria and the multinationals; the country currently exports some 2.4 million bpd of crude and is gearing up to become a major source for liquid natural gas.

The changes come as the government of President and Petroleum Minister Olusegun Obasanjo tries to fend off powerful demands and outright violence aimed at securing more of the nation's vast oil revenues for the lower ranks of its population.

Time For Mobil Block Choices Has Expired, Nigerians Say

The time allotted for ExxonMobil to select two 25 percent preferential entitlements in any of five blocks on offer from the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Zone (JDZ) has expired, the Nigerian daily The Punch reported this morning. The paper also said that Joint Development Authority (JDA) officials told them the company will submit its choices today.

In another development, Shell - facing $1.5 billion in fines for damaging the environment - and ChevronTexaco have formally protested the seizure of 24 oil blocks now producing $1 billion of crude a year, including many of their own, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company.

The Punch reported:

JDZ officials say Petrol giant Exxon Mobil is submitting its options today. It has been widely known that Exxon Mobil will not exercise its rights in this new auction; instead, it has cut a deal with the NNPC to build a refinery in Nigeria. The delay in exercising its options has had the JDZ waiting in the wings to figure out exact percentages to award block winners & factor Signature Payments for each block awarded.

Coupled with the arrest warrant issued for an Elf Aquitaine subsidiary's managing director (see below), the Federal Government of Nigeria appears to be sending a strong message to foreign oil companies that have balked at the country's insistence that they buy or build local refineries and submit to unusual contract demands, including a "transparency" clause that may force them to reveal important and closely-held production data to national officials.

It is unclear what consequences may arise from passage of the JDZ deadline. Among other possibilities, ExxonMobil may have farmed out its two choices to other bidders, and news reports have suggested they did. Coupled with the preferential choices to which ERHC is entitled in each of the blocks on offer, they could determine a winner in the long-delayed bidding process.

Reports have varied as to whether a Production Sharing Contract for Block 1, which was won by ChevronTexaco. XOM and Energy Equity Resources and is awaiting ExxonMobil's signature, will be signed. Today's article in Punch of Nigeria did not directly address that issue.

Both ExxonMobil, working with the NNPC, and ChevronTexaco, working with British Gas, have agreed to spend more than $13 billion in two Nigerian LNG plants in the past two weeks.

The circumstances suggest that the refineries were a reluctant investment for which they may be rewarded with the return of their property or other concessions. It is unclear how the agreements will impact the awards in the Joint Development Zone.

Royal Dutch/Shell has been building an LNG plant with the NNPC and French and Italian partners, and that project has expanded from a cost of $3.8 billion in 1999 to more than $10 billion now.

There is little question, however, that natural gas may play a major role in Nigeria's economic future. Some 60 percent of the gas is now "flared," or burned off, at wellheads. New technnology that allows it to be supercooled and transported more easily has made export prospects more promising.

Nigerian Court Holds Top Elf Exec In Contempt

A Nigerian judge has issued a civil cintempt order against the foreign Managing Director of Elf Aquitaines' oil subsidiary there, Elf Petroleum Nigeria.

Following seizure by the Nigerian state oil company of some 63 fields now producing nearly $1 billion in oil from oil majors including Shell and ChevronTexaco and rampages by workers and others against multinational-owned refining and pipeline facilities there, the judge's order underscored the difficult of doing business in a country Transparency Inrternational has called the third most corrupt in the world.

According to today's online editions of The Vanguard daily newspaper:

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has issued a bench warrant against former, Managing Director of Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd, Georges Buresi. He is facing contempt charge before the court, over alleged disobedience to the order of the court in respect of Amenam/Kpono Field Development Project.

Presiding judge in the matter, Justice Daniel Abutu made the order, at the instance of counsel to SBL Consortium Ltd, at the resumed hearing in the suit.

Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), Counsel to Buresi, had at the hearing, told the court that his client (Buresi) had traveled out of the country.

At that point, Counsel to SLB Consortium, Wale Adesokan, contended that the proceeding, is quasi-criminal in nature, requiring the presence of the alleged contemnor. He consequently asked the court to issue a bench warrant against Buresi.

Chief Akinjide however opposed the oral application, drawing the attention of the court to the difference between a criminal contempt and a civil one. According to him, it is only the plaintiff (SLB Consortium) that is interested in the contempt and not the State, as such it is not a criminal contempt. He urged the court to refuse the application.

The executive has apparently fled the country.

Tired Of Rumors, Waiting For News, ERHC Drops $0.05

As investors wearied of hearing predictions and rumors about the imminent awards of Blocks 2 through 5 of the Nigeria-Sao Tome Joint Development Zone, the stock opened slowly this morning and promptly dropped from the opening high of $0.55 to $0.52.

By the end of regular trading at 4pm EST, the stock had fallen $0.05 on volume of 1,087,748 shares, and was trading at its low for the day of $0.48. The price had reached $0.05 shortly after the opening.

Volume in the first half hour was a meager 197,355. More than 700,000 shares traded in the first 20 minutes Wednesday.

The spate of newspaper articles tapered off to nothing, and the promised Dow Jones News Service article has not yet appeared.

There is also no definitive word on the signing of the Block 1 Production Sharing Contract with ExxonMobil, which is reportedly farming out its preferential rights in the blocks offered in the second round in favor of operations elsewhere.

At 10:04am EST, the bid was at the daily low of $0.515 and the ask at $0.52.

Sellers were not appearing in large numbers, however.

Update:By 10:43, with 268,731 shares sold, the bid had dropped to $0.49 and the ask stood at $0.51. Some 9,076 shares traded at $0.495 before the price recovered slightly.

Update No. 2, 1:58pm: The price slide has continued this afternoon, with some shares trading as low as $0.49. At :1:59 the most recent price was $0.50, down five cents from the day's high and three cents from the open at $0.53. The volume was 763,521 at 2pm EST.

Update No. 3, 2:31pm: The price moved to $0.48, down $.07 from the day's high, as volume reached 929,021.

Domain Jumper Claims "ERHC Energy" Name

A Louisiana man who identifies himself at stockhocker70 on the Raging Bull message board has apparently bought a domain name for ERHC Energy, the new name shareholders are expected to adopt at its Feb. 4 shareholders' meeting, and said he intends to sell www.erhcenergy.com to the company if he is permitted to develop the Website.

By: stockhocker70
19 Jan 2005, 07:38 PM EST
Msg. 92550 of 92585

(This msg. is a reply to 92546 by xetava.)
Jump to msg. #

OK, the cat is out of the bag. I reserved both names (and several other variations) when I learned of the proposed name change. JC and whoever else is responsible for the ERHC web site have failed and are failing terribly in their efforts. I have attempted to reach the company and offer my services, to no avail.

On a hunch I checked these domains and found the had not been reserved. So, I secured them myself.

I am going to bring this up during the SH meeting. If ERHC wants the names, I will make an offer, which will be contingent upon the company using my services for a new web site.

Capitalism? Partly... But mainly, I knew if I did not act on our behalf and in our best interest, someone else with a different interest would, quickly.

Let's see what kind of worms crawl out of this can I have opened...

It's apparently quite a can.

The contact name in the WHOIS directory of Network Solutions is given as an address, 1800 Carol Sue Ave., the actual street address of a company that claims to provides Web hosting services. The email address provided was terryedwards228@hotmail.com.

Also found in a Google search for that address was E-Claim.com, a company which provides Internet services for insurance claims processing, Eagle Consulting Services, and Gretna, La.-based Linder Oil Co., owned by oilman G. Miles Biggs and Roger D. Lindner, which was listed as a creditor in a bankruptcy filing for the Houston-based ENA Upstream Company Inc., a firm in which Enron North America Corp. held most voting stock. ENA Upstream went bankrupt owing $79,141,963.

The Gilmore Petroleum Co., which provides geological services, and the Midland, Tex.-based Clayton Williams Energy Co., listed "care of" Eagle Consulting at 1800 Carol Sue, are also referenced at that address.

According to the filing, the Linder Oil Co. was owed $3,680,970.46 by ENA Upstream, and was the largest of 20 listed creditors owed hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars each.

Internet phone directories list a Terry A. Edwards at a residential address in Slidell, La. The person who identifies himself as stockhocker70 on the message board has frequently referenced Louisiana and the insurance claims business in his posts. The E-claim Website does not list any names of its personnel.

In New SEC Filing, ERHC Names Key Legal Consultant

In a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission today, ERHC named a new consultant, Frank Cascio, whom it will pay 175,000 shares valued at $0.46.

Cascio is to prepare "a written status report describing the status of any sales of the Company Common Stock sold hereby."

Cascio was hired to provide "general legal services" to the company. A search of Google did not turn up any mentions of his name. He is required under the contract to report to the company if he sells any of his stock.

Said one particularly knowledgeable investor:

Frank Cascio is a major deal maker and assisted [I think] ERHC on the JDZ Participation Agreements with Noble and Pioneer, and I believe this is his speciality.

He was discussed at length some months back when his name popped up. He has appeared at several trade gatherings and conferences and speaks often on the subject.

According to a post on the RB board:

FRANK L. CASCIO JR is a partner in the firm of Barnes & Cascio LLP in Houston Texas, where he is engaged in a transactional and negotiating practice representing mostly large independent energy companies in upstream and midstream projects around the world. Most of his recent activity has been in the Pacific Rim countries, principally China.

That information is from a PDF file at http://www.cailaw.org/brochures/Intl%20Energy%20brochure.2004.pdf.

Cascio is the second new hire in recent months. CEO Ali Memon was hired late last year following the departure of CEO Chude Mba.

A copy of the Consulting Agreement is provided below and at the www.sec.gov/edgar site.

CONSULTING AGREEMENT
This Consulting Agreement dated January 4, 2005 (“Agreement”) is by and between, ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION HOLDING CORPORATION d/b/a CHROME ENERGY CORPORATION, a Colorado corporation (“Company”) and FRANK CASCIO, an individual (“Consultant”).

W I T N E S S E T H :

WHEREAS, Consultant desires to provide certain consulting services to the Company; and

WHEREAS, the Company and Consultant desire to set forth in writing the terms and conditions of their agreement;

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and the mutual covenants, agreements, and considerations herein contained, the parties hereto agree as follows:

1. Engagement . Subject to the terms and provisions of this Agreement, the Company hereby affirms the engagement of Consultant, as an independent contractor, to provide general legal services.

2. Compensation . For legal services performed by Consultant for the Company, the Company will issue to Consultant 175,000 shares of common stock of the Company pursuant to a S-8 Registration Statement, which shares are valued at $82,250 based on the average of the high and low prices of the Company common stock on January 3, 2005, or $0.47, as reported on the OTC Bulletin Board.

3. Status Reports . At the Company’s written request, Consultant shall prepare and submit to the Company a written status report describing the status of any sales of the Company Common Stock sold hereby.

4. Term . The term of this Agreement shall commence on the date herein and shall continue in full force and effect for a period of six months.

5. Miscellaneous .

(a) Assignment . All of the terms, provisions and conditions of this Agreement shall be binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the parties hereto and their respective successors and permitted assigns. This Agreement shall not be assigned or transferred by either party, nor shall any interest herein be assigned, transferred, pledged or hypothecated by either party without the prior written consent of the other party.

(b) Applicable Law . This Agreement shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the State of Texas.

(c) Entire Agreement, Amendments and Waivers . This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement of the parties hereto and expressly supersedes all prior and contemporaneous understandings and commitments, whether written or oral, with respect to the subject matter hereof. No variations, modifications, changes or extensions of this Agreement or any other terms hereof shall be binding upon any party hereto unless set forth in a document duly executed by such party or an authorized agent or such party.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this Agreement as of the day and year first written above.

ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION HOLDING
CORPORATION

By: /s/ Ali Memon
Ali Memon, President

FRANK CASCIO

By: /s/ Frank Cascio
Frank Cascio

Exhibit 23.2