Bucharest, July 20th 2009- Today Sterling Resources sent an open letter to Speaker Roberta Anastase regarding the Industries Committee Report on the agreement between Sterling and the Romanian State. The report was sent to the Steering Committee on June 29th and will be discussed by the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies on July 27th, in and extraordinary session. In the letter to Speaker Anastase, Sterling indicated the company believes the Industries Committee report is severely inaccurate. Sterling also highlighted the Committee has not delivered on its mandate: to conduct a fair and thorough investigation, with hearings that include key individuals that have been involved in the agreement since 1992. “To highlight our position, on July 9th 2009, we submitted to you a detailed and legally substantive rebuttal to the Industries Commission’s report on the Sterling Agreement. The same documents were provided to President Traian Basescu, Prime Minister Emil Boc and to all Leaders of the Parliamentary Parties on July 6, 2009 indicating some major erroneous statements and accusations made in the report. We are very concerned that the recommendations within the report are based on a series of flawed and incorrect conclusions. Therefore, the validity of some of the recommendations themselves must be questionable,” said Stephen Birrell, Sterling Resources Vice President in the letter sent today to Speaker Anastase.
In this context, Stephen Birrell asked speaker Anastase that a copy of the Sterling Rebuttal be provided to all members of the House of Deputies prior to the 27th Extraordinary Session so that the MPs may be sufficiently informed when debating the Sterling Report. “We have invested in Romania with the goal to replicate our experience and our reputation worldwide, together with our partners, and to contribute to the energy security of Romania by providing oil and gas resources from Romania to the Romanian people.
To our total disappointment, for reasons we do not know, we have been the subject of major false accusations by several politicians, since the February 2 decision of the International Court of Justice,” indicated Stephen Birrell in the letter to Speaker Anastase.
Sterling reaffirmed its willingness and availability to provide any information to the Plenary at any point. The company’s sole goal in this process is that the truth be known about our agreement as we know very well that ever since Sterling entered the agreement with the Romanian state we have complied with all Romanian guidelines and relevant legislation.
Editor’s note:
Sterling is a Canadian company having its head office in Calgary, Alberta. Sterling is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, its shares being traded under the symbol “SLG”. Sterling is conducting petroleum operations in United Kingdom (both in the North Sea and onshore), in France and in Romania both onshore (South Craiova block) and in the Black Sea (Pelican XIII and Midia XV blocks). Sterling has been holding an interest in the Pelican and Midia blocks since April 1997, which interest currently stands at 100%.
Midia Resources S.R.L. (“Midia”) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sterling and acts as operator and Sterling’s fiscal representative in Romania, being responsible for the management of the conduct of petroleum operations, which are carried out by specialized contractors (seismic works, drilling, well investigation works, geological studies etc. ). The moneys necessary for the conduct of the operations of Midia Resources S.R.L are not provided from Midia’s own sources, but are supplied directly by its parent company- Sterling Resources. Therefore, what Midia Resources S.R,L. needs is just the minimum share capital required under the law.
Contact: office.bucharest@sterling-resources.co.uk
