'vidon' pid='62923' datel Wrote:Can any board member explain why we have rigs on standby? IOC mgmt has stated that we are an exploration company. There is a lot of seismic completed. Sites have been selected for drilling. Why not let the drills spin?
Vidon, a couple of parts to that:
1. Decision making. Now that Ant 7 is being kicked down the road (likely for drilling after Certification), the HA rig that arrived in August can have some decisions made as to where it will go. They have been working with new Operator Total and that has taken a little time. With Total in place (taking on everything in PRL 15 after Ant 4) they will move ahead. Hopefully the HA rig will go to Ant S and then the rig at Tri can go to Raptor. Something like that; and then when Ant 4 is done (hopefully by end of Oct), it can be mobilized to Ant 6. Not sure what's going on with the rig that's been at Wahoo; maybe someone else knows or mgmt will discuss on their road-trip next week.
2. Some cash flow conservation. With the move to Total as Operator mgmt has said they will be working on cutting expenses related to their Operatorship. IMO they need to really focus on this in an attempt to keep from tapping the LOC for as long as possible to avoid the interest charges and needing to use Certification proceeds to pay back debt. People keep chirping about 9.5Ts plus, but Recoverable is what is used, not gross. So until we have a much better handle on what Recoverable will be, they would be wise to conserve cash as much as possible.