Angus Energy site at Brockham, Surrey, on 16 December 2018. Photo: Brockham Protectors
Two shareholders in Angus Energy have called a general meeting in a bid to remove the managing director, Paul Vonk, from the board.
In a stock market statement this morning, Angus said it believed Jonathan Tidswell-Pretorius, the operations director and former company chairman, had a “direct interest” in shares held by one of the shareholders, HSBC Global Custody Nominee (UK) Limited.
Mr Tidswell-Pretorius stepped down as chairman in July 2018 after questions were raised over his involvement in share transfers.
The general meeting, the date of which has not yet been announced, will be asked to remove Mr Vonk and appoint George Bingham and Adam Salim Habib.
Mr Bingman is the 8th Earl of Lucan, and Mr Habib has held directorships in several companies that have been either been dissolved or gone into liquidation.
In a statement, the Board of Directors said:
“Without reservation, the Board of Angus Energy views this General Meeting requisition as unwelcome and unnecessary. The Board strongly believes that the Company has planned a very productive year for the Company. Managing Director Paul Vonk has our full support.”
Angus also announced that non-executive director, Rob Shepherd had resigned from the board.
At the time of writing, shares were down 19.74% at 9.15p.
New loan
Angus also gave details of a new two-year £3 million loan facility. it said this would be used mainly to fund further activities at its oil exploration site at Balcombe, in West Sussex. (see more below)
The loan is at 0% interest but each advance of money has a 8.5% “implementation and commitment fee”. The loan companies also have the right to convert money loaned into shares.
Balcombe
The statement also referred to production plans for the Balcombe site, which Angus took over as operator from Cuadrilla in 2018.
The company carried out a seven-day flow test at the end of September 2018. It reported unexpectedly high levels of water coming to the surface. The first recorded flow included 22% produced water.
Angus said in October 2018 it believed that the horizontal section of the well had intersected a small high-pressure water zone.
But today, it said analysis of the water had shown high levels of salt and the water could be “unrecovered brine from previous activities at the site”.
It said:
“the Company believes that continuous oil with a low watercut can be produced from the Balcombe-2Z well under normal pumped production conditions and it now plans to demonstrate commercial oil production.”
The loan would be used to “support near-term planning and testing as well as a successive Field Development Plan submission”, Angus added.
Brockham
The company confirmed that the flow test programme on the Brockham well BR-X4Z, targeting the Kimmeridge formation, resumed on 4 January 2019.
It added that the well was perforated before Christmas and logged.
Although the company does not have planning permission for oil production from the BR-X4Z well at Brockham, the statement added:
“A standard stimulation programme to bring the well into production, similar to the recent successful operations and testing programme at Horse Hill, is in progress.”
10/1/19 Edited to clarify that Angus do not have planning permission to produce from BR-X4Z
Categories: Industry
DRILL OR DROP? 
Well, lie again. Angus have approval for production form all parties, SCC included.
http://www.lse.co.uk/share-regulatory-news.asp?shareprice=ANGS&ArticleCode=yrl2ztld&ArticleHeadline=SCC_Approves_Planning_Application_for_Brockham
That was for retrospective permission for the sidetrack they drilled in January 2017 in Brockham without permission. They do not have permission for production at Brockham only for appraisal.
I suppose you can keep telling yourself as you wave to the tankers as they go by. Or you can just go to the OGA website now, look up Angus, and note the production license beside its name. A little bit of information is a dangerous thing… especially when it’s wrong.
Hi Boo Radley
Thanks for your comment.
Angus do not have planning consent for production from BR-X4Z from the County Council. Instead they currently have planning consent for the appraisal stage, which involves testing the reservoir to determine if long-term production is viable. Angus are calling this a “Commercial Production test”.
Oil is produced during this phase as a result of the appraisal being performed.
The County Council’s planning permission for the appraisal stage is for 3 years. Once this stage is completed, Angus would need to seek planning consent for long-term production from the well.
See https://drillordrop.com/2018/08/08/surrey-campaigners-shocked-by-approval-of-disputed-brockham-oil-well/
Angus Energy could seek permission for long-term production from the OGA, SCC, EA and anyone else they may need to long before the 3-year production testing window finishes. Indeed, they’d be very prudent to do so in order that there is a seamless transition from one phase to the next, as I’m sure is expected of them by their various authorities who have granted permissions both for the BRX4z sidetrack and also for the site in general, which has a full production license until 2036.
With UKOG reported to be looking at 6% of net revenue to the community ref. HH, I would suspect SCC would be banging on the Angus door well before 3 years to see if they would offer the same-but, only if the oil is flowing producing that revenue.
As with most of these projects attitudes change dramatically once the benefits are alongside the inconveniences. The committed antis might still be around but will be unable to deny such reality. A constant within all such protests.
Dear me! The vultures are gathering, there must be some rich pickings to be had at the shareholders and loanholders expense?
And what are we to make of this:
“Mr Bingman is the 8th Earl of Lucan, and Mr Habib has held directorships in several companies that have been either been dissolved or gone into liquidation.”
A pair of likely lads on the make if ever I saw any?
Whenever a potential victim starts to haemorrhage confidence and small change, the financial scavengers are never far away and can smell it a mile off. Particularly of course when they have tagged onto the target herd and are trotting along beside them in the underbrush…..
If only the target herd can reach that oasis of oil and gas? But of course, there are the itinerant crocks and ‘gators waiting just below the “unrecovered brine from previous activities at the site”?
David Attenborough may be there to film the carnage as the unrecovered brine turns red….
Haha , you couldn’t make it up , Lucan will be on his toes with your cash , I see Big Dave Lenigas has tweeted for Vonk to go , he knows a scam when he see it 😉
Interesting that its a loan and not a placing to give shareholders a chance to purchase some discounted shares , this will have to be repaid now and as happened with UKOG it will smash the share price each time YA decide to take their discounted shares and sell at a profit . Hence death spiral .
Alternatively, an attempted coup could indicate someone has been excited by what has been “revealed”!!!
You makes your choice, and pays your money-or not.
Haha Martin , yes you could be right , Lenigas might be hungry for Angus pie , whatever it is its not very good for the company and at a time when they could use less unrest and bad media coverage , it makes them look incompetent ( Chuckles to self )
Yes, you are right Jono, but so what, or what’s new?
It will come down to what the fundamentals are and whether they can be delivered. The rest is froth.
But Paul has great faith in them, as he indicates they will not be depleted after three years of tankers, and that is when they would need the production planning consent!
I wonder if Mr Lucan will arrive on Shergar?
This time next week will be 2 years to the day that Angus were first reported for drilling BRx4z , Paul Vonk cant take all the credit for Angus failures , the protectors had a lot to do with it .
Very strange.Great News [edited by moderator] They Know Angus Engergy will be worth a fortune in the near future .With huge flow rate soon .That is why these chancers are trying to get their grubby hands on Angus Energy Plc on the cheap My full support for Mr Paul Vonk .Get a New oil Big Name Boy on the board .Get rid of these chancers
Only brx4 under appraisal 2 more can be sidetracked without the restrictive envelope and permission for another 3 or would it be 4 more wells as brx4 is classed as an exploration well now as if it were on a new green field site