Dear Mr Plunkett

I write in an open forum following our brief dialogue on the 16th November 2016 in which you made clear that you deemed a large private shareholder (holding in excess of seven figures in shares) and one with the support of many, many other retail shareholders not sufficiently important to engage directly with.

Providence Resources (PVR) shareholders have in recent years had a resolute belly full of the type of attitude that you projected and which is extremely dismaying given the hopes I and others had of a new direction and stewardship of PVR following your appointment in September of this year.

I would direct you to a prior open letter of mine here (http://www.alignresearch.co.uk/providence-resources/open-letter-tony-oreilly-jnr/) in reiterating the solid points put forth by me in relation to the composition of the PVR Board which comprises largely Tony O’Reilly Jnr acolytes.

As another year closes out, despite numerous public pronouncements by our CEO that a Barryroe farm in was “imminent” we still sit here with a deal on this field unconcluded. For TOR Jnr to remain in the CEO seat given that the oil price has near doubled from the beginning of the year and many mid-tier explorers have increased multifold whilst we have declined approximately 30% is incredible in the extreme. As a large shareholder I am at a total loss as to how this individual with less than half the stock I hold and not even 1% of the total share count (which was heavily diluted thanks to the bringing of the company to near bankruptcy in the spring) holds onto his position. It beggars all belief with regards to accountability and commerciality.

I also make the point that Spanish Point has gone quiet, again in contrast to commentary by the Board last year that 2017 would see the commencement of drilling. I quote from your RNS of Dec 17^th 2015 – “The Operator now plans to commence operations for drilling during 2017, subject to governmental approval” (Ref Spanish Point). The farm in process here has been active since October 2015 and Tor Jnr seemingly has, again, drawn a blank with regards to the preparedness of a party to farm in.

One could be forgiven for concluding that the representations made by the largely same management team in recent years are simply not believed by the industry (hence no farm in) as the excuse of a weak oil price holds no water given that the Barryroe farm-in process was originally commenced in a triple digit oil price environment. If this is the case, then by extension one could conclude that shareholders have been led a merry dance for years. Quite why the institutions continue to humour ToR Jnr, in particular to the extent that they did with the $72m capital infusion in early summer this year, will be one of life’s enduring mysteries…

In the alternate, if the representations surrounding the company’s portfolio, and in particular in regards to Barryroe and Spanish Point are correct, then the only logical conclusion is that Tor Jnr as the CEO is simply not up to task in being able to conclude a deal for shareholders. Lord knows he has been given over 4 years.

I see no other explanation than these two positions for the situation that we as shareholders currently sit in, some 5 whole years since the commencement of the Barryroe farmout process and that has left us a veritable laughing stock in many quarters of the City.

Mr Plunkett it is time for you to remove ToR Jnr and in doing so, whilst we are in a strong financial position, give PVR a chance with newly invigorated management to, once and for all, monetise our asset base.

R Jennings

• Oil
• Providence Resources