Many of us know what happened to Urals Energy (LON:UEN) in 2009 and some are probably still watching to see if the company can rise again. For those that do not know, UEN lost their two biggest assets by far, Dulisma and Taas Yuriakh to Sberbank (largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe) as they could not negotiate an extension to the loan which enabled them to buy these assets in the first place.
Since then, the company has been on the slow road to recovery and is starting to look in good shape, so I have bullet pointed the facts as I see them and tried to evidence this where I can. Following this, I have given some of my own opinion.
- The company has two remaining assets, Petrosakh and Arcticneft (both in Russia) which are profitable and currently producing a total of 2148 bopd.
- Has debt of USD28m owed to trade partner and major shareholder, Petraco, in which repayments are made once a year in December.
- Petraco also have the option to aquire USD5m worth or UEN shares @ 22p (current price 12p to 13p).
- When Sberbank took Taas Yuriakh from UEN in 2009, this included a loan which currently stands at approx USD37.5m which is still owed to UEN. Sberbank are looking to sell this asset and repayment to UEN could occur at any time.
- According to uen's website, significant shareholders currently hold 47.88%, which means only half the company is freely traded
- A strange situation "appears" to exist in which three large shareholders, Finfund, VR trade and Vyacheslav Rovneiko seem to want to discredit the company and take full control. They have communicated with shareholders in the past, to get the BOD replaced with people appointed by them and "seem" to be behind http://www.saveuralsenergy.com/. To me, they appear to be doing so for their sole benefit and not what is best for all shareholders. I believe this information to be correct and apologise if it is not as I have not meant to misrepresent.
- Current production = Petrosakh - 1,422 BOPD and Arcticneft (seasonal shipping only from july to nov) - 726 BOPD. Total 2148.
- Petrosakh plans for this year = Two new vertical wells and four sidetracks.
- Arcticneft plans for this year = Recommence water injection,…
