Borrowing the Ottotrans for a sec: Santa Marta Petroleum (SMQ.v)

If you’ve never seen the Ottotrans, you are missing a valuable tool for financial education. It converts mining press releases into plain English. I am going to try it on this oil press release to see how it works.

This is what they say:

Santa Maria Petroleum Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2012 Results
CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwire – Aug. 29, 2012) –

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S.

Santa Maria Petroleum Inc. (formerly Quetzal Energy Ltd.) (TSX VENTURE:SMQ) announces its unaudited results for the six months ended June 30, 2012.

HIGHLIGHTS DURING THE PERIOD ENDED JUNE 30, 2012

HIGHLIGHTS DURING THE QUARTER

— The Company received approval from its shareholders at the special
annual shareholders’ meeting held on May 31, 2012 to change the name of
the Company to Santa Maria Petroleum Inc.

— On April 23, 2012, Santa Maria announced that NCT Energy Group C.A.
Colombia, as official Operator of the Llanos 27 Block, along with Santa
Maria and its partners, commenced drilling the Flami-1 well on the
Llanos 27 Block in the Llanos Basin of Colombia. The well was
successfully drilled to a total depth of 9,300 ft. on May 31, 2012. On
June 21, 2012 the Company announced a new oil discovery in the Une
formation of the Flami-1 well. The initial testing of the well was done
in two stages over a period of 5.5 days with drawdown being gradually
increase over that time. The final phase of the test produced average
production rates of 2,464 bopd over 9 hours with a 12% watercut. The
well was put back into production on August 17, 2012 as part of the long
term testing program upon receiving its permit from the Colombian
government. The Company is paying 50% of the gross amount to earn a
private participating interest of 45.275% before payout and 34.25% after
payout.

— On April 23, 2012, the Company announced the appointment of Mr. Steve
VanSickle and Mr. Doug Manner as directors of the Company. Mr. VanSickle
has over 25 years of experience in the Canadian and international oil
and gas industry and is currently the President, Chief Executive Officer
and a Director of Fairborne Energy Ltd. (a TSX-listed company) and the
lead independent director of CUB Energy Inc. (a TSXV-listed company).
Mr. Manner has over 35 years of experience in the Canadian and
international oil and gas industry and is currently the Chief Executive
Officer and a Director of Sintana Energy Corporation (a TSX-listed
company). At the same time the Company accepted the resignations of Mr.
Steven Austin and Mr. Kevin O’Connor as directors of the Company. Both
Mr. Austin and Mr. O’Connor had served the Company well for several
years for which the Company expressed its appreciation.

— On April 23, 2012, the Company announced that the board of directors
adopted a new incentive share option plan (the “Option Plan”) and had
granted stock options to purchase an aggregate of 1,493,759 common
shares of the Company at a price of $C1.00 per share to certain eligible
participants. The Options are exercisable for a period of five years
from the date thereof and vest as to one-third on each of the first,
second and third anniversaries of the date thereof.

— At the special annual shareholders meeting held on May 31, 2012 the
company received approval from its shareholders to consolidate the
issued and outstanding Common Shares on the basis of one post-
consolidated Common Share for every 10 pre-consolidation Common Shares.
The Board believes that consolidation of the Common Shares should
enhance their marketability as an investment and should facilitate
additional financings to fund operations in the future. Approval from
TSX has been received. The 600,764,492 pre-consolidation Common Shares
that were outstanding have been reduced to 60,076,449 post-consolidation
Common Shares. Accordingly, all employee and officer stock options and
the share and per share disclosures in the June 30, 2012 condensed
interim financial statements and this MD&A have been revised to reflect
the consolidation of shares for all periods presented.

— At the special annual shareholders meeting held on May 31, 2012 the
shareholders approved the appointment of Mr. Scott R. Cochlan as the
sixth director of the Company. Mr. Cochlan is a partner with Torys LLP
and is recognized internationally as a leading Canadian corporate
finance lawyer.

— The Canaguay-1 well had been shut in just prior to the end of the first
quarter for maintenance and repairs to its pump. It was returned to
production on April 25, 2012 and produced an average of 1,037 bopd for
51 days until further maintenance and clean-up was required on June 15,
2012.

And this is what it means:

Aren’t oilfield operations more interesting than our second quarter 2012 results? Look over there!