Insight from SonoroI had the pleasure of having a brief discussion with Dale Steiner at Sonoro Energy. Drilled him over several issues, including the Capital Expenditure requirements for 2011, the big question of “Who is Berkeley?”, the Iraq government and their involvement, energy and electricity around the project in Sonoro, and the issue of light oil and what is to happen to it. My main question also revolved around exploration progression of drilling and top-well support.
The capital expenditure will not be funded by dilution. I’ll believe it when I see it, but apparently Richard and Quinton have been working towards securing debt financing for these endeavors, which will most likely occur around year-end.
Although he did not state on record, from what I know Berkeley is an Iraqi based company comprised of respectable individuals within the Iraqi oil demographic. The Iraq government seems to be in full support of Sonoro. Richard is in the middle east very frequently, in fact they just had their first meeting in quite some time on Canadian ground together as an organization from what I understand.
Energy and electricity, according to Dale, is not an issue in Iraq. The infrastructure is “already in place” and according to him there are no problems perceived on this ground. If anything, Dale feels once Sonoro becomes established, they will be the center of supply for a high demand of energy from the people living and operating within Iraq.
As far as drilling and targets go, from what I understood, there is no immediate drilling taking place as lined out in their corporation presentation. However, on the flip side, a third-party has done a quasi-feasibility study which should be shared with us in the days to come.
Overall, I am quite satisfied personally with the answers provided. I spoke to the administrative staff as well, and they are re-structuring a lot of their materials to reflect their currently strategic vision in heavy oil.
Oh, and regarding the light sweet crude. I think that down the line Sonoro will be profiting off this as well. Realistically speaking, Sonoro is working very closely with Iraq and developing very personal and profitable relationships. The stakeholders are the government. Once they have the infrastructure in place, it only makes sense to me that they would extend additional rights – so definitely something to look out for in the future.
This is my take on the situation. I make pretty good notes while I have conversations, but please be aware that I do occasionally make misinterpretations so don’t hold everything I say as being 100% accurate (take this as a disclaimer).
Ultimately, I am holding my position and see big things on the horizon. With resource estimations coming close, we can easily see the market cap go on a nice upward run. I am still holding long and strong, and will continue to build my already large position when I see further development and milestones reached.
-Millionvester