RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE I have never said that I am in favour of the management of VST indeed I agree wholeheartedly with you that shareholders interests weren't looked after the way they should have been with respect to LFD. Let me make it clear, I have never defended their actions in regard to LFD, so don't make a horrible and innacurate logistical jump here. I am probably as teed off with them as you are regarding what happenned with LFD and I think on that we can agree, but to say that others are well respected in the industry doesn't address the real issue. For example, I remember a short year ago they were calling for Simon Hatfield's resignation, inferring that he was a shyster and a liar and all sorts of other nasty labels on this very website. So the question becomes were they right then or are you right now? Frankly I don't think it really matters because it is a diversionary tactic in your argumentation. But just to make it clear I am NOT calling into question the intergrety of WZR's management at all, and never have been. the track record of VST's management may be called into question and will probably effect the ultimate SP in a negative way but that does not mean the SP will not be quite a bit higher than it is now at the end of the day. Would it be even higher under other management? Almost certainly, but that is not the primary issue under consideration for me right now.
What counts is what we might possibly get out of VST present management and all... You clearly think it will be very little in terms of a price, I on the other hand think it might be, relatively speaking, much better than what the market and other naysayers like you are promulgating. Notwithstanding questionable (or horrible or criminal management) my eye is on the one major fundamental and that is the amount of oil I believe is under Qura Dagh. I believe this is one of the last of the true elephant size pools and if I am correct here, no matter how you slice it, dice it, knock it or pound it when and if, oil is proven to the extent I believe it is there, whomever has a peice of the project will stand to benefit in terms that should blow your mind.
I have indicated many times before and am reasonable about the fact that VST may not have the legs to get there, it is risky and it is going to take some luck with pairing up with others, and/or getting a buy out in advance, but given the attributes of the property I think there is a very good chance they will realize something out of this play and realize quite a bit more than what most people are evaluating it at, at this present time.
You may very well be right that management then takes a good chunk of the money and pays themselves out in bonuses and all kinds of other shaky practices but that is not something I have been or am addressing at this point. I will say however that even if that scenario happens I think there will be a relatively substantial amount of upside in the SP regardless.
You may very well come to regret the fact you aren't putting a few sheckels in VST, or perhaps not, but once again I think you, like the market are writing it off too quickly. Some of this comes down to your investment practices and how you read situations and whether you believe in contrarian practices etc. so I would never criticize you for not doing so. Having said that though, I refer you back to my experience with WZR, almost the same arguments were made in relation to that situation last year and I remember someone calling me a starry eyed dreamer and hopeless optimist for investing in WZR when they were "down". I wonder what ever happenned to the pipsqueek that called me that. (And by the way he wasn't the only one either.) Once the SP of WZR started to climb, I have never seen another post from him again on this site. Funny that....