Tuesday 22 May 2012

Fictional facts can cloud outlook on small oil companies - The National

'Twenty-eight years old, with spiky gelled hair, orange tan and a donkey jacket'. As reported by The Wall Street Journal's James Herron, this is Spencer Freeman, taken to court last Thursday over rumours he circulated about the oil company Gulf Keystone.

Mr Freeman earned the wrath of the oil company for pretending in his Twitter account to have access to inside information from Gulf Keystone and directors at ExxonMobil, whom he alleged were planning to purchase the company. He had a devoted following, and when he claimed recently that the company was planning to issue new shares at a discount, the share price dropped by 9 per cent.

He admitted that his tweets were "fictional facts … not related to the real world of reality" and promised to desist. But this episode is an ironic comment on the volatile world of small oil companies.

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