This week: one happy meeting, and one sad meeting. Tomorrow Arcon International shareholders should be happy to approve the unhinging of the oil and gas exploration division into a separate company.

On the same day, a different set of shareholders, the owners of Bula Resources, should be very sad indeed as they lick their wounds over that very expensive furore into legally uncharted territory in Russia. Indeed, Bula shareholders should have a lot of pertinent questions. If they choose to play mum, they will, in effect, be accepting a denuding of their company without question. The whole sorry episode came to a head with the admission by the company that it had misinformed its shareholders about the results from Salmsoye oil field in western Siberia. This is now being investigated. The full findings of this investigation should be released to the shareholders, post haste.

Shareholders will also like to know more about the purchase of a 25 per cent stake in Mir Oil Developments for £2.5 million, two years ago. At the time shareholders were told the deal gave them a 12.5 per cent stake in a field with $1.3 billion of proven and probable reserves.

That would imply an unbelievable attributed value of £112 million to Bula. Yet all of Bula is valued at just £20 million by the market.

It is now three months since Bula told its shareholders that new information had revealed that the Siberian well flowed insignificant amounts of oil and it would not now be brought into production. This was in sharp contrast to the bullish statement last October that it had successfully tested oil at the Salmskoye oil field. What is disturbing is the preciseness of the incorrect information. This is what the shareholders where told about development well 705 in which it has a 50 per cent stake - it tested at a rate of 150 cubic metres per day, or 942 barrels per day, on an 8 mm choke, over a four-day period. That Red October statement by the then executive chairman, Mr Jim Stanley, was even more specific on what the flow meant.

It said the well was drilled vertically into the Bajenov reservoir and it "demonstrates the vast oil reserves contained in this oil field and we hope to build up to first production before the year end. The pipeline link and pump station facilities have already been put in place which is a significant achievement for our company". Bula had alerted shareholders in March and April that the flows from the well were not as good as originally thought. It noted that the well head pressure was disappointing and warned of a probable significantly lower rate of production.

Shortly afterwards a brief seven line statement from Bula announced the resignation of Mr Stanley, "who has been anxious to pursue his other mining interests for some time". He has not been available for comment.

A day later, Bula announced the postponement of the start of production at the Siberian oil well for six months. This, it explained, was necessary because it needed further technical assessment.

Although the October information (and subsequent statements) was obviously very price sensitive, the share price had not moved beyond the narrow range of 2p to 3p over a 12 months period (it recently moved into a limbo-land price of 1.375p). Still, the company is rightly treating this as a serious matter.

Bula has an obvious obligation to tell its shareholders precisely what went wrong. But it has a wider role. Any statement needs to be clear, unequivocal and all-embracing so as to allay fears investors may have about statements on oil/gas finds by other exploration companies.

Failure to do so, or to leave unanswered questions, may breed greater cynicism towards the whole sector.

Bula has suffered a lot of pain from its excursion into Russia. It had a very public row with two of its Russian directors last year leading to a legal wrangle. Following a settlement, they left the board.

That whole Russian exercise has proved to be very expensive and should provide warning signals about the difficulty in gaining proper legal title in that country. Bula has had to write off £8 million due to the legal problems over title to the 51 per cent interest in the Russian company, Aki-Otyr.

So what about Bula's future. At the moment it appears to be in limbo-land. Unless it can become refocused into a creditable group, it would be better off merging with another company and forgetting about the past.