History
Supernova Energy bought Kansas oil leases in 2011, funded itself through share sales and a loan, drilled in Kentucky in 2015, settled Lasso lawsuits, then deregistered in 2017.
2011-2012: Buying into Kansas
The record begins in March 2011, when the company bought leases at auction in Pratt County, Kansas, for $260,000. They covered 280 acres in the Sawyer field and 120 acres in the Wildcat field. These were the first oil and gas properties described in its filings.
In September 2011 it added two more Pratt County leases, bought for $50,000 and $22,500. It also bought a 30% interest in Lasso Energy's share of three leases in Barton and Stafford counties. That month a stock dividend worked as a 20-for-1 forward split, so shareholders held 20 times as many shares. Shares on issue were 161,325,766 at the end of 2011.
To fund the business, the company signed an agreement with ThorFinn Partners in March 2012. ThorFinn could buy shares at $0.60 in tranches of up to $500,000, for up to $3,000,000 in total, until March 2013. It had already paid $500,000, but further tranches needed both sides to agree, so the full amount was never committed. The board also set up audit, governance and sustainability committees.
2013-2017: Kentucky, settlement and exit
The record is quiet for the next two years. In January 2015 the company agreed to pay OMR Drilling and Acquisition $150,000 to drill and $50,000 to complete the Slugger #1 well in Russell County, Kentucky. The filing describes the company's interest in the well as 100% working interest and 87.5% net revenue interest, though another passage gives different working-interest figures. To pay for it, the company borrowed $150,000 from Craigstone LTD at 10%, due June 29, 2015 and convertible into preferred shares at $1.00 after that date. The filings do not say what happened to the note or the well's results. Shares on issue rose to 6,820,572 at the end of 2015.
In October 2015 the company and other plaintiffs settled six Kansas lawsuits against Lasso Energy and Lasso Holding, the counterparty from the 2011 deal. The terms involved cash payments and transfers of interests; the amounts were not given in the summary. That month it also bought a 50% interest in the Monroe Lease for $135,000.
In January 2017 the company deregistered its securities, ending its duty to file reports with the SEC.
Written from the 6 story beats below (2011 to 9 Jan 2017), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.