For Donald Trump, under the US democratic system, there is check and balance to limit his absolute power,
For Xi Jin ping, under the present self-proclimed "China's domocratic system", there is none and china looks more like a one-man dictator's state .... very dangerous !!!

I think Xi's "iron policy" in the past 2 years have scared many people off and have no confidence with china, as it may abuse its economic and military power without respect for rules of law !
Xi looks more and more like the yesteryear of Donald Trump !!

China was the only major power to see an increasing level of distrust among Southeast Asians, with 63% saying they had little or no confidence that Beijing will “contribute to global peace, security, prosperity, and governance”, up from 51.5% in 2019. But most of this distrust of China was due to concerns that it may abuse its economic and military power, rather than doubts about its leadership, capacity or reliability.

https://www.aseantoday.com/2021/02/report-shows-southeast-asias-views-on-us-china-are-shifting/

The issue can be simplified as such :- If majority of Taiwanese wish to unite with mainland China, they would have voted Nationalist party in last election and let the ruling party to initiate political unification process or have a refenrandum on this issue (like what happen to UK -scotland or Brexit) by the Taiwanese to decide.
The recent 4 major referendums all sided Democratic Progressive Party could only indicate that Taiwanese rather to remain autonomous instead of unite with mainland ! Most political analysts opined that Xi's policy on Hong Kong have scared off many Taiwanese to unite with CCP's autocratic system in China, more and more fence-sitters swing against them, so do South East Asia countries.
One survey in SEA reveals that 7 :3 SEA countries supported US rather than China if forced to take side (in fact this findings transformed from 7 :3 pro-china the previous year !) Those swing over countries (from pro-China to pro-US) are :- Malaysia, Indonesia, Campodia, & Thailand !
hard core pro-china :- Brunei, Laos & burmah
hard core pro-US :- Philiphine, Vietnam, singapore

Very interesting survey !!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_Tribunal
Uncle koon, go and do a proper research on this , btw, the tribunal hearing was broadcasted live in youtube for the whole wolrd to see and access with transparency, heard that UN will act and annouce some measure in the next few weeks!

This pitiful uncle koon has been brain-washed by CCP's political propaganda until developing what psychologist called "confirmation bias" !
No wonder he keeps getting con by china-based companies eg Xinquan etc

JP Morgan Predicts The End Of Covid, A Strong Economy, And $125 Oil
By Tsvetana Paraskova - Dec 08, 2021, 12:00 PM CST
JP Morgan believes that things are looking up for the global economy next year and consumption will remain strong for years to come
The bank highlights inflation, the Chinese economy, and the transition from a pandemic to an endemic disease as the three economic factors to watch moving forward
This prediction for a vibrant economy supports the banks earlier claim that oil prices could hit $125 per barrel next year

Next year could lay the foundation for "a far more vibrant economic environment" and COVID transitioning from a pandemic to an endemic disease, JP Morgan said in its Outlook 2022, titled 'Preparing for a vibrant cycle.'

According to the investment bank, household net worth is at all-time highs in many developed countries, and excess savings are elevated. Consumption will likely be strong for years amid strong labor market conditions and the capacity to take on more debt, JP Morgan's strategists said in the report for 2022.

"Although we see clear potential for a more vibrant economic cycle, the environment is also fraught with cross-currents. We are confident the economic expansion will continue through 2022, but its strength will likely be determined by the monetary response to inflation, the relative success of Chinese policymakers in rebalancing their economy, and the pace of the transition from a pandemic to an endemic disease," the bank noted.

A vibrant economy means robust demand for oil, and JP Morgan even said last week that crude oil prices could soar to $125 per barrel in 2022 and $150 in 2023 due to OPEC's limited capacity to boost production.

The Omicron variant that has spooked markets over the past two weeks could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic, JP Morgan strategists Marko Kolanovic and Bram Kaplan wrote in a note last week, as carried by Bloomberg.

If the new variant turns out to be less deadly, it would fit the historical patterns of virus evolution. This would be bullish for risk markets as it could suggest the end of the pandemic is in sight, the strategists said.

Bill Gates also expressed optimism that the end of the pandemic could be in sight at some point next year.

"I am hopeful, though, that the end is finally in sight. It might be foolish to make another prediction, but I think the acute phase of the pandemic will come to a close some time in 2022," Gates wrote in his 'Year in Review' blog post on Tuesday.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Despite many analysts give TP from 0.23-0.30, even The Edge's Tong's fundamental portfolio purchased it at 0.16, the accounts show very healthy cashflow with low gearing ratio, ..... etc
Veryslow remains Veryslow .... :(

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/12/07/velesto-likely-to-close-2021-with-solid-performance

It rated the stock a “buy” with an unchanged target price of 23 sen per share and said its target price is pegged to a one time enterprise value to replacement value valuation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9JZIuGZ0WY&t=152s
very good fundamental analysis on Harta !

You see other oil & gas companies eg armada, Yinson , dialog etc keep reporting profit Q after Q or winning contracts everywhere, but Very-slow still no positive annoucement , how not to negative ?? They are waiting for Petronas s contract only ! Now Petronas new CEO has been tightening the belt, and hesitate to award contracts, like that F liao loh !!

Basically, Petronas don't award new contract, this company will die or loss !!!!
Petronas becomes their only sugar daddy !!!

Qtr result will be bad !! might be loss !!

Uncle Koon, please don't write on internaional politics, your knowledge in this filed is at kinder garden standard !!

what next ?
Karim to sue Bursa, SC, EY, independent directors, i3investor.com , leno , all forumers go against him etc .... ??? lol

The latesr Edge edition Tong's portfolio, he added Velesto in his Malaysian Portfolio and gave a detailed analysis on this company's fundamental !
TP = 0.30 as per its NTA !!
Add more shares before most fund managers discover this hidden gem and pump it UP higher !!

Forget $100, Options Traders Now Betting On Oil Prices Hitting $200
By Tsvetana Paraskova - Oct 19, 2021, 7:00 PM CDT
$100 Oil is no longer an ‘outrageous’ bet in the call-options market
Some speculative traders are now betting on $200 oil in December 2022
For those betting on $100 oil, the leader of the OPEC+ alliance, Saudi Arabia, has a message: look beyond the end of this year; an oversupply is coming next year

Even after hitting the highest levels in several years in recent days, oil prices have further room to rise this winter. At least short-term market fundamentals suggest so, analysts say. Inventories around the world have fallen to below the pre-pandemic five-year average as stocks are depleting, with demand bouncing back amid a weaker supply response from producers. The energy crunch in Europe and Asia and record-high natural gas and coal prices add more arguments to the bullish case for oil in coming months as a switch from gas to oil products such as fuel oil and diesel, especially in Asia, is already underway.

The structure of the oil futures curve a year from now also points to a tight market and headroom for higher crude prices.

Stocks Draw As Demand Rebounds

On the demand side, recovering economies and mobility have boosted global oil demand in recent months, leading to inventory drawdowns that have reduced global stocks to below recent averages.

In both the United States and the OECD developed economies as a whole, commercial oil stocks have dropped to below pre-COVID five-year averages after more than reversing the huge builds from the spring and summer last year, Reuters market analyst John Kemp notes.

As of the latest reporting week, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories stood at 427 million barrels, around 6 percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Gasoline inventories were about 2 percent below the five-year average, distillate fuel inventories were 9 percent lower, while propane/propylene inventories were a massive 21 percent below the five-year average for this time of year, the latest EIA data showed.

In OECD, commercial stocks in August were 162 million barrels below the pre-COVID five-year average, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest monthly report last week. Preliminary data for the U.S., Europe, and Japan show on-land industry stocks fell by a further 23 million barrels in September.

Related: Exxon Considers Abandoning Major Oil And Gas Projects To Appease ESG Investors
Globally, implied Q3 refined product balances “show the largest draw in eight years, which explains the strong increase in refinery margins in September despite significantly higher crude prices,” said the IEA.

The energy crisis in Europe and Asia could additionally boost global oil demand by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared to a “normal” market without a natural gas and coal crunch, the agency noted, raising its 2021 and 2022 global oil demand forecasts.

Supply Lags Demand As OPEC+ Keeps Market Tight

While demand has rebounded despite the summer COVID flare-ups in the U.S. and Asia, supply additions to the oil market have been lagging behind the pace of growing demand.

First, it was Hurricane Ida that limited U.S. oil supply from the Gulf of Mexico from the end of August through most of September. Supply will not recover to its full capacity until early next year, as a Shell-operated platform will remain offline until the end of 2021.

At the same time, the OPEC+ group continues to keep the market tight, adding just 400,000 bpd each month to its overall supply. That’s despite calls from the U.S. and other consuming nations to open the taps and tame the high oil prices, and despite the energy crisis which has forced utilities to fire up oil-fueled power generation amid record-high natural gas prices, boosting demand for oil products.

OPEC+ leaders point to expected oversupply next year and to the need to look beyond the next two months in their decision to continue to reverse only 400,000 bpd per month of their cuts.

Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, last week basically ruled out the option that the alliance would respond to the oil price rally by adding more supply than planned.

“We should look way beyond the tip of our noses. Because if you do, and take ’22 into account, you will end up by end of ’22 with a huge amount of overstocks,” he said on Thursday.

Related: Oil Prices Dip As China Considers Market Intervention

Moreover, output figures point to the fact that OPEC+ is actually pumping well below its collective production ceiling. As per Bloomberg’s estimates, if all members of the alliance stuck to their respective production ceilings in September, the overall production of the group would have been 747,000 bpd higher than what it was.

It looks like OPEC+ is not too worried about demand destruction at $85 oil, at least not for now. The group’s leaders stress the importance of a longer-term vision and stability on the market, expecting increased supply in 2022 from both their own wells and from the U.S. shale patch, which appears to be maintaining its capex discipline even at $80 oil.

‘Blowout’ Backwardation Points To Even Higher Oil Prices

At the end of 2021, however, supply remains tight, while backwardation—a key indicator of a tightening market—between the December 2021 Brent contract and the December 2022 contract h

SHould propose to the board to change the company name to "VELEFAST" !! LOL

Hope "very slow" will explode into "very fast" eventually !!!

"Very Slow" will slowly and steadily WAKE UP !!

This is a Velesto ("very slow") oil counter !!!!!

Uncle Koon is super lousy in international political anaylsis !
His heavily-biased pro china's posts don't know want to make me laugh or cry ?
can somebody please ask him to do more reading and research before he write on international polictic ? sounds like a kindergarden level to us !!! ><

dividend to be paid on 8-10-21

The borrowing is cut to half with net gearing 0.1x !
meaning shareholders no need to worry about this company going bankrupt or issuing rights issue to ask for more money from shareholders !!

Insurance money help to reduce debts + increase rig utilisation rate during slow economic time !!

Utilisation outlook remains weak; sinking of Naga 7 could be a blessing in disguise. In line with Petronas’ activity outlook, local demand for jack-up rig is still expected to remain weak in the coming 1- 2 years. Nonetheless, given the thinning of its fleet follow Naga 7’s demise, coupled with some upcoming short-term jobs, we believe upcoming quarters could see higher rig utilisation numbers. Overall, the sinking of Naga 7 could prove to be a blessing in disguise. With the incoming influx of cash from the insurance claims, the money could be used to pare down almost half of its borrowings – potentially lowering its net gearing to 0.1x from 0.4x currently. This could give the company the much-needed headroom to ride through the current tough market conditions while awaiting a recovery. Additionally, a smaller fleet would also ensure higher utilisation rates, especially considering current difficult market conditions.

Amanahraya back to sapu-ing !!
Good sign !!

summary of the hearing :- During hearings held in June 2021, witness testimonies described observing or experiencing mass torture, rape (including gang rape), forced sterilization, forced abortion, forced administration of medications that stopped women from menstruating, arbitrary arrest and detention, mass surveillance, intimidation by government officials, and forced child separation.[3][5][9][10][11][71][74] Evidence presented also included testimony of sexual harassment of women by Chinese agents, retaliation by the Chinese government against relatives of Uyghurs living abroad, the physical destruction of homes with families that "had more births than allowed", and other abuses.[9][71][74]

China denies that it has committed human rights abuses within Xinjiang, including within the Xinjiang internment camps, and disputes the legitimacy of the testimonies.[5][14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_Tribunal

go and do more research and see whether China did violate human rights
and the hearing is conducted live broadcast to the whole wolrd in youtube in early June, 2021 and more evidence will be revealed in September.

https://klse.i3investor.com/blogs/philip6/2021-08-12-story-h1569709725-the_intrinsic_value_of_Hartalega.jsp

a value investing guru has openly supported this company !!

Velesto got potential in recovery play in 2021 2nd half !!
according to CGS-CIMB

5. Recovery plays
These are companies under its ‘add’ call with the highest potential earnings recovery on an absolute basis in 2022 compared with 2021 levels — including those recovering from losses.

“The top five stocks that fit the screening of our definition of growth stocks and offer highest upside to our target prices are Genting (TP: RM6.90), Magnum Bhd (TP: RM2.30), Media Chinese International Bhd (TP: 21 sen), Velesto Energy Bhd (TP: 19 sen) and Genting Malaysia Bhd (TP: RM3.20),” the research house said.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/7-trading-themes-bursa-2h2021-according-cgscimb

Kuan's family has been rated the best management in Bursa, have faith with them, hold long term on this company, you will be rewarded !!
remember, amongst all glove players, they still the number 1 in terms of profit margin due to thier brilliant cost management with efficient automation. during oversupply situation, they can just cut selling price and let other inefficient players close shop !!

If Kuan family all resigns, Harta will drop to 1.00 !!

The only hope for this "Veryslow" is when insurance company agrees to compensate them for sinked Naga ! It is a blessing in disguise !
According to one analyst's research, the compensation sum could be more than the sinked Naga's net book value (as the prudent management has been written off huge book value thru out the years) , if this happen , they will record huge "exceptional gain" on thier book value + huge cash from insurance could partly settle their outstanding loan liability or give them healthy cashflow to move forward !
Long term investors shall hold and wait for this good news to be released ! By that time then more analysts will start cover Veryslow and queueing up to raise TP to 0.40-0.50 (pre-pandemic average TP)

My read is Veryslow is currently neglected due to uncertainty surrounding its sinked Naga and the insurance compensation.
I just checked , most "folk king stool pick" analysts cease coverage on this Veryslow pending new development of the above issue !!

If oil price back to super cycle and reach USD100, those buy oil counters at dirt cheap price will surely HUAT HUAT HUAT !

Veryslow's TP = 0.50 by year end, TP = 1.00 by 2022

KUALA LUMPUR (June 24): AmInvestment Bank Research has maintained its "overweight" rating on the oil and gas (O&G) sector for the next 12 months as crude oil prices have risen by 74% to US$75 per barrel currently from an average of US$43 per barrel in 2020, supporting a global resurgence in capex roll-outs and structural rerating prospects of independent exploration and production (E&P) producers and service providers.

Its analyst Alex Goh in a note today raised his 2021 to 2022 crude oil price projection by US$5 per barrel to US$65 to US$70 per barrel versus the 2021 year-to-date average of US$65 per barrel.

Goh also noted that based on a base case demand scenario premised on projects deemed likely to be sanctioned, Rystad Energy expects global liquids supply shortfalls of 22 million barrels per day (bpd) (22%) by 2030 and 28 million bpd (35%) by 2040.

"Hence, substantive global investments are still required over the next 10 to 20 years to stave off the projected supply deficit. In the absence of such investments, we expect another super bullish cycle, similar to the 2004–2007 run-up, which will drive crude oil prices to levels well above US$100/barrel," he said.

According to Goh, the value of final investment decisions (FID) in Southeast Asia for O&G projects is expected to surge by 3.5 times year-on-year this year to 700 million barrels of oil equivalent, and more than double to 1.7 billion in 2022.

"Malaysia will account for over 80% of Southeast Asia's FID in 2021 and 50% in 2022," he said.

Over the longer term, he said, deepwater investments are expected to be more prominent, peaking at US$6 billlion in 2027 from just US$2 billion in 2020.

He also noted, by 2024, deepwater projects will make up over 60% of the region's sanctioned resources.

Additionally, subsea tiebacks and floater solutions will gain traction as national oil companies optimise their capex under net-zero emission agenda, he added.

Outlook. We view that the outlook for Velesto is turning positive at this juncture despite its weak 1Q21 results as Velesto currently has 3 out of 6 of its available rigs working with another rig to commence mobilisation by the middle of June. The Company should see sequential improvements in its rig utilisation and profits towards the end of FY21. We forecast Velesto’s utilisation rate to come in at c.45% in FY21 and expect its cost savings initiative to mitigate any short-falls in utilisation rates. Velesto is working with the insurance underwriters and protection & indemnity (P&I) club on the way forward for Naga 7 as the rig and other related liabilities are adequately covered under the Hull & Machinery Insurance and the P&I club. We believe that Velesto would be adequately compensated for Naga 7 and we do not think that Velesto would replace its Naga 7 rig with a new rig.



My suggestion to Veryslow's board :- since the oil price is going up, use the insurance compensation money + bank loan to buy a new "Naga 8" to replace Naga 7 !!
when oil demand is shooting up, so will the charter rate, take the opportunity to ride the next oil & gas super cycle !!!

oil price UP, "Veryslow" DOWN !!

KNM 0.20, Armada 0.50, Sapura 0.14 !!!
Veryslow should have traded at 0.30 !!!!!
Where is the insurance compensation money ? once got paid , will be exceptional gain, or maybe declare some dividends and price shoot up !! (i hope and suggest to CEO)

CEO of Veryslow ! quickly bid for more rig contracts !!!!

other oil & gas counters already shooting UP but this Veryslow is still sleeping !!!!

Oil price up but "Very-slow" down !!!!
PKM

Calvin Tan's faulty analysis exposed !! LOL !

I haven't seen uncle phillips in I3 ages ago !
Maybe he has woken up already and dare not comment here anymore ??

calvin Tan. I remember your nemesis Uncle Phillips highly recommended it last year and could not stop promoting the company everyday, how is he doing ? dumping all shares already ??

Hope that the CEO or board work hard to secure more contarct for their rigs, fully utilize all their rigs then share price only can PECUT back to 40 cents !!!!!!!