History
A shell taken over in 2011 became a Gulf of Mexico lease holder, funded by Texas South and Delek, and by October 2022 relied on small convertible notes.
2011-2013: From shell to explorer
The company began as Plan A Promotions, a shell with no operations. On June 22, 2011 a group of investors led by John Preftokis paid $400,000 for 9,700,000 shares, 97% of the stock, and the three existing officers resigned. Shares on issue rose from 1,200,000 at the end of 2010 to 23,650,000 in 2011 and 235,150,000 in 2012. By the end of 2013 there were 624,223,676. The record for those years is thin. In December 2013 the company said its March and June 2013 results could not be relied on. Seismic-related costs that had been capitalised were written off as impairments of $12,582,927 for the March quarter and $14,542,055 for the nine months to June 30, 2013, because the company did not yet own the properties they related to. It was an accounting correction, not a cash loss.
2014-2015: Winning the leases
In March 2014 the company agreed a farm-out (a partner pays to share in prospects) with Texas South Energy: up to a 20% working interest in five prospects for up to $10 million. Director James Askew was Texas South's CEO, so it was a related-party deal. After the federal regulator BOEM awarded it blocks from the March 2014 lease sale, GulfSlope completed leases through May and June 2014: three blocks for $1,119,910, then six, nine and finally two more. It held all 21 blocks it was awarded, with about 98,941 acres, all expiring in 2019. BOEM rejected its bid on one further block, Ship Shoal 282. The company's own speculative estimate was about 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which is not reserves. In July 2014 it sold 33,448,335 shares at $0.24 to 43 investors for $8,027,600 gross. In September 2015 Texas South paid the final $1.8 million, completing the farm-out, while GulfSlope remained operator.
2016-2019: Delek and the Tau well
The record is quiet for 2016 and 2017, with shares rising slowly to 698,526,625. In January 2018 GulfSlope signed a participation agreement with Delek GOM Investments and Texas South to drill the Canoe and Tau prospects. Delek could earn a 75% working interest in further phases and buy up to 20% of GulfSlope's stock. GulfSlope issued 80 million shares to Hi-View for consulting, returnable if Delek did not fund within six months. In March 2019 Delek lent $10.0 million under a loan facility of up to $11.0 million and exercised warrants for 238,095,238 shares at $0.042 by cancelling that debt, so the loan became shares. In June 2019 the company agreed to up to $3.0 million of 8% convertible debentures, with warrants for 50 million shares, where the conversion price varied with the share price. A Tau well was re-drilled in May 2019, with GulfSlope holding 25%. In September 2019 the company said its March 2019 quarter results were wrong because bad debt expense was recorded in error, with a preliminary correction of $672,500. In October 2019 it gave Delek 38,423,221 shares and replaced the $1,220,548 still owed with a 12% convertible debenture.
2020-2022: Insurance money and small notes
In July 2020 GulfSlope settled its well-control insurance claim for the Tau re-drilling, receiving $6,575,000 for its 25% interest. It agreed to pay off the remaining $1,900,000 of the 2019 debentures by November 30, 2020, and the warrants were repriced from $0.04 to $0.02 in exchange for removing anti-dilution protection. On September 30, 2020 it repaid Delek's debenture with $1,220,548 cash plus 17,500,000 shares for $129,211 of interest. Shares stood at 1,268,240,346 from 2020 to 2022. The filings do not confirm that the other debentures were fully paid, or what happened to the leases after the mid-2019 expiry date. As of October 14, 2022, the company had signed an agreement for up to $650,000 of 8% convertible notes, with $55,000 funded, due April 8, 2023 and converting at 65% of the lowest 10-day average price. Further tranches were not agreed, and earlier audit reports had raised doubt about the company's ability to continue.
Written from the 16 story beats below (2011 to 6 Oct 2020), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.