Last Friday, trading in Gondwana Oil (CSE:GO) was halted after the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum in Ghana published a press release stating Gondwana Oil’s application has never been processed for formal evaluation and that Gondwana’s 70% subsidiary Miura Petroleum has never even visited the data room.
This is obviously a very strange situation, as we cannot imagine that the people involved with Gondwana Oil had malicious intents to defraud the public. Director Dan Gosselin is the CEO of the Bank of New York Mellon’s Trust Company in Canada (NYSE:BK), Chairman Troy Grant is the CEO of another TSX V-listed junior exploration company and technical advisors Holub and Ollivier sold their previous energy company for almost $750M. On top of that, the manager of negotiations in Ghana was leading ConocoPhillips’ (NYSE:COP) strategic business unit and was actually rewarded for his leadership. Additionally, we have seen the letter wherein deputy minister Benjamin Dagadu confirmed the negotiation talks with Gondwana’s subsidiary.
All these people involved in Gondwana have so much more to lose than to gain in terms of reputation, and we think it’s unlikely these people were effectively and deliberately misleading investors. We are still awaiting an official response from the company which should clarify the situation.
Disclosure: The author currently has no position in Gondwana Oil. Gondwana is not a sponsor of the website, but we were compensated by a third party to initiate coverage. Please see our disclaimer for current positions.
