Hi! I'm Terry from ERM Power and I'm here to supply your business with electricity - but don't ask me where it comes from

http://youtu.be/S0dU2kVESYw

This is Terry McCauley from ERM Business Energy, a commercial unit of ERM Power Limited. 

The ever helpful Terry would like to sign up your own manufacturing/retail business, your child’s school, the medical clinic you attend, the local council and government agencies in your area, and sundry other businesses as ERM customers if you live in New South Wales.

Terry is very keen to help ‘his’ company expand its core business in this state from the 26 per cent of the NSW electricity supply market it held in January 2013.

He has The Energy You Need!

Or does he?

What Terry is careful not to say is the word Metgasco.

Because ERM Power is well aware that communities right across the NSW Northern Rivers are not happy with that mining company’s plan to turn parts of our unique environment and valued agricultural land into gasfields, which will reduce the region’s groundwater resources and possibly irreversibly contaminate aquifers and water bores near or within those same gasfields and/or pollute surface water courses.

ERM is not just aware because its directors and staff read the newspaper or watch the nightly news, no ERM is aware because it is now the largest shareholder in Metgasco Limited, as ERM Power Limited, Energy Resource Managers Pty Ltd and Trevor St. Baker.

By virtue of its share acquisitions over a number of years ERM Power and Messrs. Tony Bellas (Chairman, Non Exec. Director), Philip St Baker (Managing Director, CEO), Martin Greenberg (Non Exec. Director), Brett Heading (Non Exec. Director), Antonio (Tony) Mario Iannello (Non Exec. Director), Trevor St Baker (Non Exec. Director) and Peter Jans (General Counsel) would have considerable influence on any future decisions Megasco may make with regard to coal seam gas exploration and commercial production on the NSW North Coast.

It is probably no coincidence that in the days that ERM finally became Metgasco's largest shareholder, Metgasco announced that it was not capping and abandoning all its wells on the NSW North Coast and was keeping open the possibility of starting coal seam gas production approximately 10 kms west north west of Casino.

In July 2012 ERM Power told the Australian Stock Exchange that its strategy is to gain a foothold in the east coast gas market, consider conventional/coal seam gas production as well as generation opportunities and achieve the same success it achieved in West Australia. (1)

These are photographs of ERM Power-Empire Oil & Gas-Wharf Resources joint venture gasfield sites in the coastal Perth Basin, West Australia:

 So if an ERM Business Energy representative makes contact with you – please take time to consider what you value about your regional lifestyle and whether ERM, through its interest in Metgasco, may be intent on ruining that lifestyle for you, your family, your friends and neighbours, purely for its own commercial gain.

Say NO to ERM.

(1) ERM Power also has an interest in Red Sky Energy Ltd and Clarence Moreton Resources, two other coal seam gas exploration companies operating on the NSW North Coast.
It also holds equity interests in eight petroleum exploration tenements covering in excess of 10,000 km² in the Western Australian Perth Basin, which include conventional gas, condensate, oil and shale gas prospects. 
One of ERM's business units ERM Power Retail Pty Ltd is an authorized gas retailer.

* ERM gas field photographs from Google Images

Coal seam/tight gas miner Metgasco Limited's major shareholder makes the news again as Australian Senate inquiry into Queensland Government continues

Metgasco Limited's major shareholder ERM Power gets a mention in the Brisbane Times on 24 November 2014:

State Energy Minister Mark McArdle held a Liberal National Party fundraiser at the offices of one of the nation's largest energy companies, but did not declare it in his ministerial diary.

The 2013 event was held in the boardroom of ERM Power, one of many meetings between the minister, the energy company and lobbying firm SAS Group, according to documents seen by Fairfax Media.

A spokesman for Mr McArdle said the minister always complied with the reporting obligations set down by Premier Campbell Newman's demand for the most transparent and accountable administraton in Queensland's history, but the boardroom fundraiser did not fall into the category of a reportable event.

"Fundraising is carried out by the party organisation in strict compliance with state and federal laws," the statement says.

A spokesman for ERM Power said political fundraising was a "legitimate exercise of the freedom of political association and expression".

"ERM Power complies with the regulatory framework in Queensland for such activities, making the required disclosures under the Electoral Act," he said.

The documents, which the Electrical Trades Union is expected to submit to the Senate Inquiry in to the Queensland Government, show meetings and meals between the government, ERM executives and their lobbyists stretch back to 2012, soon after the LNP took office.

Locations included Minister McArdle's office, the LNP state conference and the Queensland Club.

Mr McArdle's spokesman said the minister regularly met with a wide range of stakeholders in the energy and water sectors.

So far this year:

* Mr McArdle met ERM Power representatives at The Queensland Club on February 5 to discuss "renewable energy" on February 5;

* The state government announced on March 6 it was axing the 8 cent solar feed-in-tariff paid to 40,000 Queenslanders in favour of a system where customers negotiated directly with retailers; and

* On March 11 Mr McArdle was the guest at a lunch hosted by SAS Group in the lobbying company's boardroom. 

SAS Group did not declare the event on the contact register maintained by the state's Integrity Commissioner but Mr McArdle did, listing its purpose in his diary as "boardroom lunch" and naming the lobbyists as the organiser......

Fairfax Media last year revealed that ERM, which had previously predominately donated to the Labor Party, had donated more than $25,000 to the LNP since 2010, with $1500 going to the Labor Party in the same period. 

The government appointed the company's non-executive chair, Tony Bellas, as head of its Independent Review Panel into the electricity sector in May 2012.

An ERM Power spokesman said the company, whose Brisbane office was opened by Premier Campbell Newman in April 2013, was a major Queensland employer and ASX listed entity and as a matter of good business practice maintained appropriate relationships with all of its stakeholders, including the government and opposition.

The Senate Inquiry into the Queensland government will hold its next public hearing on November 28.

The question a number of voters on the NSW North Coast are asking is: How much is ERM Power donating to the NSW Liberal and Nationals election campaigns ahead of the March 2015 state election?

Because unless the current Liberal-Nationals Coalition Government headed by Premier Baird wins re-election Metgasco Limited will lose all its North Coast coal seam gas tenements and ERM Power the value of its investment.

BACKGROUND

Details of the Senate Select Committee inquiry into Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration related to Commonwealth Government Affairs can be found here.

ERM Power would like to bail out of coal seam gas miner Metgasco Limited ?

Metgasco Limited's largest shareholder appears to be losing interest in the fate of this coal seam/tight gas explorer and wannabe production company.

Unfortunately with the ordinary share price being firmly in the 2 cents range, ERM Power will have to wait before any move to sell off its interest in this company.

Argus Media

ERM Power mulls future of NSW gas assets

22 Feb 2015, 11.48 pm GMT

Sydney, 22 February (Argus) — Australian power and gas group ERM Power is still considering the future of its gas interests in New South Wales (NSW), which include an interest in independent coal-bed methane (CBM) gas developer Metgasco and some exploration areas.

ERM bought a 13pc stake in Metgasco in 2013, but the CBM exploration group has been hampered by a NSW government ruling halting further exploration at the company's Casino project because of community concerns and there has been no resolution to the issue.

"These assets are being impacted by regulatory uncertainty in NSW which, at this point, seems far from being resolved. We will continue to keep these assets on minimum expenditure until investment conditions materially improve," ERM said.

The company also operates its 100pc owned 332MW Oakey peak demand gas-fired plant in Queensland, which was only used 3pc of the time during July-December last year. Oakey reported a 3.8pc fall in its asset value from a year earlier to A$223mn ($174mn) in the six-month period. There were increased opportunities for Oakey because of higher volatility in electricity prices in Queensland during the 2014-15 summer, ERM said, with electricity spot market prices reaching the maximum price cap of A$13,000/MWh on numerous occasions.

km/rjd

On 24 February 2015 Metgasco Limited released its Financial Report For Half Year Ended 31 December 2014.

In the last six months of 2014 it recorded a loss of $2,105,164 with $955,547 of this figure listed as professional fees.

Presumably these fees are associated with its court case Metgasco Ltd v Minister for Resources & Energy which has been waiting judgment since the end of October 2014.

Since announcing its script merger with Elk Petroleum on 22 December involving a convertible loan facility for Elk of $2.5 million, Metgasco has lent Elk a further $1.4 million this year.

Metgasco's ailing fortunes will not have been helped by the fact that one of the main planks in its argument for the establishment of Northern Rivers gasfields - ie. that these gasfields would bring down the cost of gas for business and residential users - has been contradicted by the Select Committee on the Supply and Cost of Gas and Liquid Fuels in New South Wales (25 February 2015) report which states gas prices; will rise regardless of whether there is an indigenous supply...Eastern Australia is becoming part of a single global market for commodity gas, and wholesale prices are being increasingly set by international prices. In the future, it is likely that NSW gas retailers will have to compete with offshore demand and pay export parity prices for wholesale gas.

What Murdoch University doesn't mention about one of its Senate members

This is what Murdoch University in West Australia states about Antonino Mario 'Tony' Iannello who has been an external member of its Senate since at least 2006:

Click on image to enlarge

What it does not say is that he has been a director of ERM Power Limited since July 2010 and is currently a shareholder in that company through what appears to be a family superannuation scheme.

ERM Power is the largest shareholder in Metgasco Limited, a coal seam gas exploration and mining company currently holding tenements on the NSW North Coast and operating without a social license from local communities.

ERM appears to have markedly increased its shares in Metgasco as part of a strategy to increase its slice of  the Australian east coast electricity supply market and with a view to taking advantage of conventional and coal seam gas production opportunities in New South Wales.

Given the widespread opposition to coal seam gas exploration and mining, it is no wonder Murdoch University does not have that association up on its web pages. Particularly as Tony Iannello is currently chair of the university's Resources Committee which has investment capability as part of its duties:

 a. Oversee the development of the University’s key strategy of building ‘wealth’ to support the University’s long term educational goals. 
b. Oversee the investment of all monies of the University (including monies held in trust). 
c. Exercise oversight of the finances of all University trusts and foundations. 

One has to wonder if Murdoch University itself is quietly investing in the coal seam gas industry, given the background of the committee chair.

One also has to wonder why Mr. Iannello, living in his plush WA suburban MacMansion with its pool and tennis court, would consider associating himself with a mining sector which has the potential to threaten water security, local economies, lifestyle and amenity in the far away Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.

Perhaps he considers ERM Power's directors fees too good to refuse?

Metgasco considering leaving New South Wales for good?

Metgasco Limited Chairman Leonard Gill at the coal seam and tight gas exploration and wannabee production company’s 2014 annual general meeting, according to the Ballina Shire Advocate on 29 November 2014:

"The government's announcement has again given the green light in principle, but provided another set of traffic lights in practice," Mr Gil said.

He also suggested many gas companies in NSW would be contemplating the government's offer to buy back petroleum exploration licences.

"Given the continuing changing rules and ongoing delays in NSW, it would not surprise if all exploration licence holders - even the largest ones - gave some thought, at least in private, to this option."……

Mr Gil said the company will "continue to pursue opportunities to diversify outside NSW" as the best way to provide value to shareholders.

"Given ongoing delay in the Northern Rivers, the lack of investor confidence in NSW and the outlook for continuing sovereign risk, diversification remains a priority in order to set the company on a growth path," Mr Gil told the meeting.

The Australian Stock Exchange chart of Metgasco ordinary share daily price performance over the last twelve months:

At close of trade on Friday the company's ordinary share price stood at 4.7 cents.

Metgasco monthly ordinary share price charted over last ten years:

Current shareholder sentiment has been described as "depressed" by one AGM observer.

A state of affairs some shareholder comments on the HotCopper forum this month tend to support:

When do you think MEL lost community support and squandered their opportunity?

who says mel management cannot be matched for the ability to destroy shareholder value while holding a great assett?

Cast your mind back several years Henderson and tell me you weren't prepared to walk away then!
Or was that a silly, ill conceived bluff, that may have come back to bite. Still not happy!

Tweed MP Geoff Provest was quoted calling on companies with exploration licences on the North Coast to give them up.
My local MP sucks - does he mean without any compensation (how un-Australian)
Seem to remember you getting out at about 41c danebell when ERM bought in - smarter than me mate. The end may be nearer than we think - best to all Sean.

Wonder what ERM Power are thinking, our largest shareholder with 58,000.000 shares having paid up to 0.60 cents a share in 2011 like the rest of us longtermers, who have been stuck unable to sell our shares because the NSW govt, The Greens and Lock the Gate have ruined MEL's promising future and ours as well.

What 4-traders thinks of Metgasco's immediate future:

Metgasco : East Australia's future gas projects shrink

11/29/2014 | 07:01am US/Eastern

There were three upstream gas projects in east Australia culled during the past 12 months from the list of potential projects complied by the Australian government's commodity forecaster, the Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics (Bree).

The Casino coal-bed methane (CBM) gas Casino project operated by Australian independent Metgasco was taken off the list of potential gas, oil and LNG projects that could be sanctioned in the medium term. Also struck off were the two trains of the Fisherman's Landing LNG project, which was listed as two projects, operated by Australian independent LNG Limited (LNGL).....

Another Bree report this week showed that the 2012-13 fiscal year to 30 June was the first year in more than six years that a new gas-fired power station did not come on line. This was in contrast to 5,135MW of similar capacity coming on line between 2006-07 and 2011-12.

There still remains 7,928MW of planned gas-fired power capacity in Australia, or about 7pc of Australia's installed power generation capacity. But most of these projects are unlikely to be approved during the next two or three years given the current oversupply in the Australian electricity market that has depressed wholesale electricity prices.

June 2013 Memo to Ethical Investors re ERM Power Limited

Since ERM Power Limited decided to invite itself into the Northern Rivers by way of investment in coal seam gas exploration and mining companies Metgasco, Clarence Morton Resources and Red Sky Energy it has become a company which is willing to override the concerns and wishes of local communities.

ERM is currently in a trading halt as it attempts to raise $60 million by way of placement and SPP in order to reduce debt and create working capital to progress its business plans, which include its interests in NSW North Coast coal seam gas production, reserves and exploration.

Ethical investors are asked to consider what participating in this offer may mean to established regional economies, water security, agriculture, lifestyle and amenity across New South Wales by way of potential adverse impacts associated with creating and operating gas fields.

When you live like this why would you hold back from assisting Metgasco Limited to turn sections of the Northern Rivers into 1,000 well-strong coal seam gas fields?

Trevor Charles St Baker and various members of his family - through ERM Power Limited where they and entities associated with them comprise an estimated twelve of the top twenty shareholders - have a considerable interest in Metgasco Limited a coal seam gas exploration and mining company with tenements on the NSW North Coast.

Therefore it might be suggested that the St. Baker family appear to endorse the potential for coal seam gas mining in the Northern Rivers.

This is the gated estate on which Trevor and some family members live:

…one of Brisbane’s most exclusive acreage enclaves…….From the postcard perfect gated entry, a sealed road meanders through magnificent community grounds studded with jacaranda and myrtle, past the tranquil lake area……The views are simply amazing, capturing Brisbane & beyond to Moreton Bay on a clear day.

The estate is understood to have two golf greens and a 12 ha communal park area.

Google Earth aerial view of part of Lot 2 on the estate

 

A far cry from the decidedly more modest homes in Casino, Doubtful Creek and Glenugie on the NSW North Coast, where Metgasco has been sinking some of its exploratory and pre-production wells.

A lifetime away from the tens of thousands of ordinary workers and returned servicemen and women who were born in, raised their families across, or retired to, this environmentally diverse and culturally enriched region.

Which might explain why ERM Power has been buying up Metgasco shares at a time when it is increasingly obvious that a great many local communities have rejected coal seam gas mining and production in the Northern Rivers and will never grant a social licence. It does not see these communities as having value.

Clarence Valley anti-coal seam gas protestors tell NSW Nationals MP Chris Gulaptis they are not amused

At least thirty concerned people and, perhaps as many as fifty before the protest ended, gathered outside the electoral office of NSW Nationals MP for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis, on Tuesday 25 September 2012.

 

This anti-CSG gathering met to emphatically, but politely, express opposition to NSW Government land use policies and potential coal seam gas exploration and mining in the Clarence Valley.

After the protesters had been in position for a good half hour or so, Mr. Gulaptis deigned to show himself and immediately set out to cast doubts about the legitimacy of concerns relating to coal seam gas exploration and mining.

One interested local queried the fact that Mr. Gulaptis appeared to have abandoned the precautionary principle when it came to the possibility that mining corporations might sink multiple commercial gas wells on privately owned land in the electorate he represents.

Of course Gulaptis has a history of favouring the mining industry, so his current attitude should come as no surprise.

It is understood that the Member for Clarence initially objected to his meeting with protesters being filmed by a participant and, as he is not known to be shy, one has to wonder if plausible deniability was what he hoped to preserve in this exchange with protesters.

Yesterday morning The Daily Examiner published this photograph and article online.

North Coast Voices also has these images of a somewhat uncomfortable Gulpatis meeting with ardent protesters - courtesy of our own K. Roo:

UPDATE:

Denise Deane of Yuragir Coast and Range Alliance on 27 September 2012:

Mr Gulaptis was humble to admit he indeed did not know a lot about the unconventional gas industry but was prepared to read the list of Australasian Accidents and Spillages related to CSG. He accepted literature and video educational material provide by the community. 

We remain deeply concerned that local productive industries, including the largest commercial fishing fleet in the state, will be badly affected by the by-products and pollution from the industry as has occurred in other parts of AUSTRALIA. It's astounding that we as stakeholders in shared resources such as our water, sustaining life and livelihoods have not been properly consulted and our concerns abandoned in favour of mostly foreign owned mining companies.

Fluffy assurances from CSG mining company advertising, such as Metgasco, that this industry is safe and can coexist with farming and healthy communities are inadequate. Metgasco already have a poor track record with spillages,  illegal dumping and leaking toxic ponds.

Mr Gulaptis asked for anyone directly affected by a neighbouring gas company to ensure they report to him. Funnily these were similar words from Mr Hazzard at Casino, but the crowd erupted when he said this as prevention is far better than cure. We will lock our gates. We do not want to have these huge problems.

6% of well casings fail immediately upon instalment, within 30 years, 50% of well casings fail and ultimately all of them fail. Cement is not going to withstand multiple horizontal seismic fracking and has a limited life span. 

ABC News on 26 September reporting on a gas project of which Chris Gulaptis approves:

A mining company with gas exploration licences for the Clarence Valley has just signed a multi million dollar deal with an energy company.

The almost $3 million dollar agreement between Red Sky Energy and ERM Power will fund drilling of up to nine gas wells.....
However the Clarence Valley Alliance Against Coal Seam Gas says it is extremely worried about the mining exploration deal. Spokesman John Edwards said if the project was only for nine wells in the valley, it would not be a major concern. "But if there's a resource discovered under any of those wells that will mean the companies will then move to the next level, which is a gas field," he said.
"We'll have dozens, possibly hundreds of gas wells clustered around in a very small area, connected to pipelines and roads.
"It's going to be horrific.
"If there was only nine wells to be drilled in the Clarence valley I don't think too many people would have concerns.
"But Metgasco have already admitted they want to put one thousand wells in the Casino area.
"This isn't just a single well coming up with conventional gas, whatever that is.
"It's unconventional and they're just playing with semantics, they really are."

Red Sky-ERM Power petroluem/gas titles PELs 457, 478 & 479 in the Richmond and Clarence valleys found at MinView:

 Click on map to enlarge

Hogan, are you with the Knitting Nannas or Nash's Nats? asks Saffin

Hogan, are you with the Knitting Nannas or Nash’s Nats? asks sitting Federal Labor MP for Page Janelle Saffin.

Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan really needs to answer that question soon - for his ability to represent those Northern Rivers communities taking a stand against coal seam gas exploration and mining is in question as reports continue to reveal his political bosses are not in the mood to not listen to party small fry like himself:

* The Coalition has stated that it wants to remove the additional layer of federal oversight for CSG projects should it gain power in September, and create a “one-stop shop” for approvals at state level.

* Worse still was Opposition resources spokesman Ian MacFarlane, whose own electorate of Groom takes in CSG proposals, calling on industry to work to ensure the controversy surrounding the gas sector rollout does not become an election issue.

He needs to further explain how he would rein in both his Coaltion colleagues and the industry given that in May 2013 even the Productivity Commission has observed:

the practices of some resource explorers (and some subcontract drilling operators and others) have tainted the reputation of the industry.

While just yesterday ABC News North Coast reported that an email trail revealed that NSW Liberal MP and Minister for Resources & Energy Chris Hartcher was so eager to accommodate Metgasco that he was determined to grant that company a CSG production lease ahead of approval conditions being established - apparently in an attempt to help Metgasco bolster its faltering share price.

A ploy which apparently worked - because in September 2012 Metgasco's share price did rally before once again beginning its inexorable fall.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-03/foi-csg-ministerjpg/4730022

Update

The Daily Examiner 4 June 2013:

In another revelation, it seems Metgasco did not want to have any announcement about their production licence being granted before council elections on September 8, possibly because of the CSG referendum being held by Lismore City Council.

On 3 September 2012 Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited had 9,996,123 shares in ERM Power Limited which is Metgasco Limited's largest shareholder. This represented 5.93% of all issues shares and made the Commonwealth Bank of Australia its third largest shareholder.

Since then the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and its subsidiaries appear to have divested themselves of the bulk of these shares and the bank ceased to be a substantial shareholder in ERM on 7 May 2013. Has the bank also sold off its Metgasco shares?

NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption to explore links between Obeid family, Liberal Party fundraiser Di Girolamo, former NSW Resources Minister Chris Hartcher and Metgasco Limited?

The Sydney Morning Herald 15 May 2014:

The chairman of Metgasco's largest shareholder, ERM Power, is Tony Bellas, who is in business with Eddie Obeid's nephew, Dennis Jabour. Both are shareholders in the Queensland company Gasfields Waste Water and Services, of which Mr Jabour is the sole director.

Until March last year, Mr Bellas was also a director of Australian Water Queensland, a subsidiary of infrastructure company Australian Water Holdings, whose activities are the subject of current ICAC investigations.

Eddie Obeid jnr, the son of Mr Obeid, worked for Australian Water Queensland. The ICAC has heard that from 2009 Mr Obeid jnr led AWH's push into the Queensland market.

Among Mr Bellas's fellow directors on the Australian Water Queensland board were Mr Di Girolamo, a former lobbyist and Liberal party fundraiser who was chief executive of AWH.

Mr Di Girolamo's gift of a $3000 bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage to former NSW premier Barry O'Farrell led to his resignation after Mr O'Farrell gave false evidence about it to the ICAC.

Australian Water Queensland was shut down due to negative publicity about the involvement on the board of a Queensland lobbyist, Wayne Myers. A new company, Gasfields Waste Water and Services, was set up early last year.

Former Gasfields shareholders include Mr Obeid jnr, Mr Di Girolamo and the current director-general of the Queensland department of premier and cabinet, Jon Grayson, who only ceased to have an interest two weeks ago.

On Thursday, Mr Bellas said he was "incredulous" about the referral to the ICAC if its was due to his links with Mr Di Girolamo and Mr Obeid jnr.

"We have nothing to do with Metgasco's operation, we're just a shareholder," Mr Bellas said.

Asked about the nature of his association with Mr Di Girolamo and Mr Obeid jnr, Mr Bellas replied: "I'd prefer not to comment on either, because they are before the ICAC."

Metgasco's license to explore for coal seam and conventional gas resources in northern NSW was first granted to Carlita Holdings in November 1996, when the Carr Labor government was in power…..

In August 1999, the north coast exploration license, known as PEL 16, was transferred from Carlita Holdings to Metgasco, when Mr Obeid snr was Minister for Mineral Resources. Mr Obeid renewed the licence in 2000 and it was again renewed by Mr Macdonald in 2006.

The licence was most recently renewed last year, under former Liberal resources minister Chris Hartcher. Mr Hartcher is currently the subject of an ICAC inquiry involving Australian Water Holdings.

He and fellow state MPs Chris Spence and Darren Webber are accused of soliciting donations to an alleged slush fund, including from AWH, in return for political favours.

Metgasco Limited ASX share price at close of trading on 16 May 2014:

The shady side of coal seam industry investment in Australia 2013

"He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas"

Attributed: Poor Richard’s Almanack

The Sydney Morning Herald 9 August 2013:

US banking giant JPMorgan Chase is facing parallel civil and criminal investigations over its sale of mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis.

In a securities filing on Thursday, JPMorgan said it was notified in May by the civil division of the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California that it had preliminarily concluded that the bank ‘‘violated certain federal securities laws’’ in connection with the subprime mortgage-backed securities offered over 2005-2007.

The filing described a federal criminal inquiry in parallel to the civil investigation, but did not provide further details…

The company last week agreed to pay $US410 million to resolve US charges that it manipulated power prices in California and the Midwest…

Bloomberg.com ( Au8gust 2013:

JPMorgan, led by Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, is seeking to resolve U.S. and U.K. probes after botched trades by its chief investment office fueled more than $6.2 billion of losses last year. Senate investigators concluded in March that the bank dodged regulators and misled investors amid souring bets by Bruno Iksil, a trader dubbed the London Whale because his positions were so big.

The Huffington Post 8 August 2013:

JPMorgan -- once a darling in Washington -- on Wednesday disclosed a raft of expected enforcement actions that have been broadly mentioned by the bank and its chief executive and chairman, Jamie Dimon, but never before in such detail. Once finalized, the enforcement orders may further damage the bank’s already-battered reputation and lead to heightened scrutiny of its practices.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is investigating JPMorgan's collection and sale of delinquent consumer credit card debt, including its use of sworn documents to pursue bad debts. Kamala Harris, California attorney general, has sued the bank over similar practices.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency told JPMorgan it will punish the lender for its credit card collections practices and use of allegedly dubious documents, including for potentially cheating active-duty members of the military under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. JPMorgan has previously settled cases under the servicemembers act related to home mortgages.

In addition, the OCC and CFPB have told JPMorgan that they will formally discipline the bank for “unfair or deceptive” practices related to identity theft products it previously sold to consumers.

Perhaps in anticipation of expected settlements, the bank increased its estimate of possible legal losses in excess of its reserves by $800 million to $6.8 billion…

According to www.jpmorgan.com:

 J.P. Morgan’s Oil & Gas Investment Banking group provides investment banking services to the oil and gas industry on a global basis. Our clients include many of the world’s leading players and producers. The group is headquartered in New York, with additional offices in Houston, Calgary, Toronto, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific….

The Oil & Gas Investment Banking group covers the complete oil and gas value chain, which includes exploration and production, natural gas processing and transmission, refining and marketing, and oilfield services.….

Through its subsidiary, JP Morgan Nominees Australia Ltd,  JP Morgan Chase is one of the top shareholders in many companies involved in the Australian coal seam gas industry, including Metgasco Limited and ERM Power Limited.

It would appear that all the dogs have fleas when it comes to coal seam gas.

A few facts you may not know about coal seam/tight gas exploration company Metgasco Limited in 2014

Metgasco Limited’s profile in the financial year 2013-14:

* there were only 6,331 shareholders as at 30 June 2014
* had 1,202,222 ordinary shares on offer on 30 June 2014 according to the company's 2013-14 annual report;

* its largest shareholders were ERM Power (majority owned by the St Baker family) and the St Baker family of Queensland who held a total of 13.41% of the company’s fully paid ordinary shares;

* held a 100% interest in three exploration licences on the NSW North Coast covering approximately 4,556km², PELs 13, 16 and 426;

* had three listed subsidiaries, Clarence Morton (No.1) Pty Ltd, Richmond Valley Power Pty Ltd and Loins Way Pipeline Pty Ltd;

* although operating at a loss it paid 5 directors and 1 executive officer over $1.3 million in remuneration;

* paid no tax or royalties;

* had less than 10 employees in total according to statements made to the media in March 2013;

* had no female directors or women in senior executive positions;

* for the convenience of its board and employees maintains one city and one regional office, with the city head office costing somewhere in the vicinity of $112,000 per annum in rental costs;

* a shareholder group tried to unseat the board of directors in September 2013;

* the ordinary share price continues the downward trend which began in 2008;

* appears to have sunk no new wells from 1 July 2013 to date and, according to NSW Resources & Energy mapping has drilled less than 40 gas exploration wells since the company was formed in 1999;
* had no beneficial interest in any farm-in or farm-out agreements;

* in July 2013 there was an explosion during the decommissioning of PEL 16 well Kingfisher E01;

* permission to drill well site Rosella E01 on PEL 16 was suspended by the NSW Government in May 2014;

* had  PPLA 9 and PELA 130 in the Casino district still unapproved as at 30 June 2014; and

* the PEL 426 exploration licence due for renewal in February 2014 has not received renewal approval to date, according to NSW Resources & Energy list of .Petroleum Titles and Applications current as at 1 July 2014.

NOTE: From 29 October 2014 every New South Wales tenement that the company currently holds is covered by the NSW Labor Party policy banning coal seam/tight/unconventional gas exploration and production in the Northern Rivers region.
No judgment has been handed down yet in Metgasco Limited v Minister for Resources and Energy (Case # 201400165970) before the NSW Supreme.