Past year: ▼ 71%(2.00c – 7.00c USD)
Each one in plain English, with the numbers worked through for a shareholder.
3 Nov 2005director officer appointment● Neutral
Jeffrey Brown was hired to run the Bermuda subsidiary as president on $150,000 plus a $50,000 China allowance and up to $96,000 of housing - putting a dedicated executive on the ground in China for the first time.
31 Oct 2005material agreement▼ Bad
A fourth one-month extension moved the first-horizontal-well deadline to the end of November 2005.
26 Oct 2005material agreement▼ BadMajor
Far East Energy got its Yunnan partner CUCBM to extend the phase-two exploration deadline at Enhong and Laochang all the way to June 2007, subject to Chinese government approval - the same slippage now affecting its second block as well as its first.
20 Oct 2005capital raising announcement▲ Good
Warrant holders exercised at $1.00, bringing in $4.4 million of cash during October alone. Cheap warrants issued in earlier placements were now the company's most reliable funding source.
12 Oct 2005capital raising announcement▼ Bad
A further 2.78 million shares were sold at $0.90 for $2.5 million under the December 2004 subscription agreement - a fraction of the $2.50 warrant price set a year earlier, showing how far the shares had fallen.
What it means for a shareholder
2.8m new shares at $0.900 to raise about $2.5m. Shares on issue before the raise aren't in the record, so the dilution can't be worked out.
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29 Sept 2005material agreement▼ Bad
A third consecutive one-month extension pushed the first-horizontal-well deadline to the end of October 2005.
26 Sept 2005capital raising announcement▲ GoodMajor
Far East Energy raised $10.9 million selling 12.1 million shares privately, promising to register the shares within 60 days and to get its stock onto the American Stock Exchange within 180 days.
What it means for a shareholder
12.1m new shares at about $0.9008 to raise about $10.9m. Shares on issue before the raise aren't in the record, so the dilution can't be worked out.
Create a free account to see this worked out for your own holding.
30 Aug 2005material agreement▼ Bad
The same drilling deadline was extended again, from August to September 2005 - the second one-month reprieve in as many months.
28 June 2005material agreement▼ Bad
The deadline to drill the first horizontal well was pushed from June to August 2005, the escrow penalty still hanging over it. ConocoPhillips had by now replaced Phillips China as counterparty.
2 June 2005material agreement● NeutralMajor
Shareholders approved moving essentially all the China business - the CUCBM production sharing contracts and related agreements - into a new Bermuda subsidiary, Far East Energy (Bermuda), Ltd. Every later contract, loan and default in this story sits at that subsidiary rather than the Nevada parent.
7 Feb 2005asset acquisition disposition● NeutralMajor
Far East Energy sold its Montana leases and royalties for $1.135 million, closing out the US asset experiment three years after buying it. From here the company was a pure bet on Chinese coalbed methane.
21 Jan 2005material agreement▼ BadMajor
The escrow securing Far East Energy's drilling obligations to Phillips China was restated to run to end-2005, and to grow by $1.6 million to $2.6 million if the company failed to drill its first horizontal well on time. Missing the deadline would now cost real cash.
6 Jan 2005capital raising announcement● Neutral
Another $1.8 million of unit subscriptions were accepted, with investors choosing between five shares plus a $1.50 warrant or two shares plus a $2.50 warrant - a menu of terms that shows how hard the money was becoming to raise.
4 Jan 2005director officer appointment▼ Bad
Far East Energy paid $165,000 to settle with director Jawaharlal Gondi and his trust, who resigned and agreed to a two-year standstill barring them from seeking control of the company - a boardroom fight bought off rather than fought out.
28 Dec 2004capital raising announcement● Neutral
Chief executive Michael McElwrath and finance chief Bruce Huff had their employment terms rewritten - base salaries of $236,250 and $168,000 - and options at $2.00 were granted to four executives and an employee, days after the $10.25 million raise closed.
27 Dec 2004capital raising announcement▲ GoodMajor
Overseas investors subscribed $10.25 million for 6.4 million units of two shares plus a warrant exercisable at $2.50, with $820,000 of commissions and 1.5 million agent warrants on top. The money was earmarked for horizontal coalbed methane drilling in China in 2005.
23 Dec 2004material agreement▼ BadMajor
Far East Energy had to renegotiate its farmout agreements with Phillips China on the Qinnan and Shouyang blocks, buying an extension to complete phase one to January 2005 and phase two to end-2005 and reshaping the work programme. The first of what became years of missed drilling deadlines.
21 Dec 2004capital raising announcement● Neutral
Far East Energy sold $250,000 of stock to a single investor and launched a wider unit placement through Bathgate Capital, the start of an almost unbroken decade of equity raising to fund drilling it could not fund from cash flow.
20 Oct 2004financial restatement▼ Bad
The Montana assets bought two years earlier were written down by a further $959,000, forcing Far East Energy to restate its 2003 accounts and its first two quarters of 2004. Management stressed the write-off had no bearing on China, which by now was the whole investment case.
12 Nov 2003drilling progress report▲ GoodMajor
Far East Energy began drilling its first exploration wells in the Enhong-Laochang coalbed methane blocks in Yunnan, moving from contract-signing to actual drilling for the first time.
15 Jan 2003asset acquisition disposition● Neutral
Far East Energy bought Newark Valley Oil & Gas and its Montana oil and gas interests for 1.6 million shares and $600,000 payable in instalments - a small US asset base bolted on to a company whose real business was in China.
13 Jan 2003asset acquisition disposition▲ GoodMajor
China's commerce ministry ratified the production sharing contract Far East Energy had signed with state partner CUCBM in January 2002, making its rights over 1,072 square kilometres at Enhong and Laochang in Yunnan legally effective. The company's core asset was now secure on paper; proving it held gas was the harder part.
7 June 2002asset acquisition disposition▲ GoodMajor
Far East Energy signed a Chinese joint venture with Panjiang Coal-Electricity to capture coal mine methane from six working coal mines across 120 square kilometres, agreeing to pay Panjiang $3.3 million over three years for the rights. Its first operating position in China alongside the exploration contracts.
14 May 2002auditor change● Neutral
Far East Energy switched auditors from Vancouver's De Visser & Gray to a Texas firm after moving its head office from British Columbia to Houston - the administrative marker of a Nevada shell repositioning itself as a US-run China gas venture. No disagreement was involved.
