What is going on with SNG?
posted on
Oct 25, 2009 08:58AM
Exploration and production of oil and natural gas.
As a long time shareholder of Canadian Superior Energy I am very concerned and disappointed with the current situation that Canadian Superior is currently in at present. What the hell is going on at Canadian Superor Energy? The answer seems to be nothing. Paolo Alto Investments (PAI) was very vociferous and diligent in its coup d'etat which effectively removed SNG's longstanding Chairman of the Board Greg Noval, and its President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Coolen and to what end? Today Canadian Superior Energy is afloat having emerged from bankrupcy court protection (CCAA) and it is drifting aimlessly amid the continuing financial storm. Nobody appears to be running the ship. It is rudderless and adrift. Yes PAI forced their board of directors on shareholders, many of whom I voted against, but to what end? Currently from what I can determine, Canadian Superior is searching for a Chairman. But who is in charge right now? What is the current Board of Directors doing for shareholders? The answer again appears to be nothing! Nothing but a wall of silence and continued share depreciation.
Once Canadian Superior emerged from bankrupcy protection (CCAA) there should have been a press conference and a press release assuring longstanding shareholders that we are in good hands and we should have been informed of the new managements philosophy and plan of action going forward. But what have we received so far? A wall of silence and indifference? This fact is very revealing to the common shareholders of Canadian Superior who voted in favour of PAI's coup d'etat. This is how you will be treated from now on by the new board, as irrelevant and as a nuisance to PAI's controlling interest in SNG. What is going on? SNG's website hasn't been changed or updated since last March 2009. That my friends is over 8 months ago. SNG also currently finds itself in the position that it is a junior oil and gas company with too many committments and projects. On the East Coast it is down to 3 properties. While it once (according to its irrelevant website) was the largest property holder off of Canada's East Coast it now finds itself in the position that it is down to three properties which it cannot afford to explore and it has long since lost interest in this area. The East coast of Canada exploration off Nova Scotia was Don Axford and Greg Noval's pet project. Now that they are both gone so has the focus and interest in exploration off Nova Scotia, so SNG should immediate announce that it is abandoning this area and shut down it's Halifax office which is a drain on its capital resources. The Excalibur Energy Project is another loss leader. Since SNG now finds itself as the 100% owner of the proposed LNG project in New Jersey it needs to can this project entirely and close down its New Jersey office and write off this past dream. It took REPSOL and Irving many years to raise the billions of dollars needed to build their LNG Canaport Project in Saint John, New Brunswick and they are huge billion dollar corporations. A company the size of SNG doesn't have a hope in hell of ever getting this project off the ground. It needs to be shut down immediately and its office in New Jersey closed down to save capital. The Libya project is a bridge too far. Libya is a terrible place to do business. The management at Canadian explorer Verenex can tell you all about operating in Libya. SNG needs to kill the unstable Libya contract by selling it to another company and shutting down it's office in Libya. So we are back to Western Canada, SNG's bread and butter operation which is profitable but sadly in need of attention to bring on the behind pipe stranded gas that it has found over the last year. What is SNG's current Western Basin production today? Does anybody on this board know? Does anybody at SNG know or are they keeping it a secret from the common shareholders? What is happening in Trinidad with SNG's 25% holding today on the Intrepid Block 5(C)? Are we still waiting for the Trinidad Government to approve SNG's 25% interest and the 45% interest that was sold to BG? Is that what we are still waiting on? Has British Gas developed plans or started to drill any more exploration wells on bloc 5(C) or arranged for a drilling rig yet or is all of this on indefinite hold? And what about the promising MG Bloc? When will SNG get to work on drilling the first well there....January 2010 is fast approaching.
Personally I am not impressed by Canadian Superior Energy's management at present and its new board of directors whose current lack of a cohesive game plan, lack of any decisive action on their part (except to vote themselves share warrants in their new company at the expense of the common shareholders) and their lack of communication skills and their failure to keep the common shareholders of the company informed of SNG's current state of affairs which they are obligated to do. I urge other board members here to write to Canadian Superior management and pose the questions that I have raised here as this is something that all common shareholders can do in the face of managament and the boards doing nothing.
Best Wishes; Scott