Errol, thank you for joining the PetroTal 2024 Annual General Meeting via webcast. Mark McComiskey, Chair of PetroTal, will be the main speaker today. I will now hand over to Mark to commence with the formal business of the Annual General Meeting. Please take it away, Mark.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. On behalf of the Board of Directors, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the Annual General Meeting of the shareholders of PetroTal Corp. The board and management very much appreciate your interest and attendance today. My name is Mark McComiskey, and as Chair of the Board, I'll act as Chair of today's meeting. I would also like to introduce Sudan Maccio, PetroTal's Chief Legal Counsel and Corporate Secretary, who will be in attendance at today's meeting. We, of course, welcome those of you who are not shareholders to this meeting, but remind you that only shareholders or proxy holders of shareholders of PetroTal are entitled to take an active part in the business of the meeting.
Registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders attending the meeting may ask questions regarding procedural matters or directly related to the motions at any time, or may save more general questions for the question period at the end of the meeting. When asking a question, we request that you raise your hand to be recognized. Once you are recognized, please state your name and whether you are a shareholder or a proxy holder. If you are a proxy holder, please state the name of the shareholder who gave you the proxy. We also ask that you limit any questions or comments to those related to the business of today's meeting. The meeting will be recorded and made available on PetroTal's website. I will now call the PetroTal Annual General Meeting to order.
Suzanne Ferguson of Cornerstone Governance Corporation is in attendance today, and with consent of the meeting, I appoint her to act as Secretary of the Meeting. Jennifer Oliver of Computershare Trust Company of Canada, PetroTal's transfer agent, is also in attendance today, and with consent of the meeting, I appoint her to act as Scrutineer for the meeting. The notice calling this meeting, the form of proxy, and the management information circular dated May 8th, 2024, in respect of this meeting, were provided to shareholders pursuant to the notice and access provisions of National Instrument 54-101 and have been filed on SEDAR. I ask that the affidavit proving the due mailing of the notice and access notification be filed with the records of the meeting.
The purposes of this meeting are to: A, receive the financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2023, and the report of the auditors thereon. B, fix the number of directors to be elected at eight. C, elect directors for the ensuing year. D, appoint the auditors of the corporation to hold office until the next annual meeting of the shareholders and to authorize the directors to fix their remuneration. And E, transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournments thereon. The scrutineers provided me with a preliminary report on attendance, and the count indicates that two shareholders are present or represented by proxy, representing 211,361,358 common shares. Accordingly, 23.09% of the outstanding common shares are currently represented at the meeting. As such, I declare that a quorum is present and that this meeting is properly constituted for the transaction of business.
I direct that a copy of the scrutineer's report be filed with the records of the meeting. In order to have the meeting proceed efficiently, we have asked shareholders of PetroTal to move the second, excuse me, to move and second the motions to be put before the meeting. This is not intended to preclude shareholder discussions in any way, only to assist with the progress of the meeting. For the purposes of the meeting today, voting on all matters will be conducted by show of hands, except for any matter in respect of the ballot if required or is requested by a registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder entitled to vote at the meeting. If you have already submitted a proxy and have not revoked it, your vote will be included on the ballot as required.
Proxies lodged before this meeting allow management of the corporation to cast a significant number of votes. Based on the number of shares represented at this meeting, the members of management here with me today are able to determine the outcome of all motions that will go to a vote today. I therefore declare all the motions which will go to a vote today will be carried, even though all the votes may not have been counted or a final report may not yet be available. The Scrutineer will tabulate all votes received in the meeting today and those received by proxies and generate a final report at the end of the meeting. At this point, we will open the floor to answer questions from registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders. There being no questions, we will continue with the meeting.
The first item of business is the receipt of the annual financial statements of the corporation and the auditor's report for the year ended December 31st, 2023. The annual financial statements of the corporation and auditor's report were made available to shareholders in accordance with securities law requirements, together with the notice of this meeting. I request the secretary to file a copy of the annual financial statements and the auditor's report with the minutes of this meeting. The next item of business is the fixing of the number of directors for election at the meeting. The information circular for the meeting indicated that it is proposed that the board of directors be fixed at eight members, which the corporation believes is appropriate to provide a significant range and depth of expertise and to meet all corporate governance requirements.
Management has only designated [audio distortion]. I would request a motion that the number of directors for the ensuing year be set at eight.
My name is Justin Kereluk, and I am a shareholder of the corporation. I move that the number of directors for the ensuing year be fixed at eight.
My name is Sudan Maccio, and I'm a shareholder of the corporation. I second the motion.
Thank you. We will now proceed to voting on this motion. Those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising their hand. Those opposing the motion, please signify by raising their hand. I declare the motion carried. The next item of business for discussion is the election of PetroTal's board of directors for the ensuing year. I would now like to introduce the directors in addition to myself, standing for election to the board: Manuel Zúñiga, Eleanor Barker, Gavin Wilson, Roger Tucker, Jon Harris, Felipe Arbelaez Hoyos, and Emily Morris. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the board for their continued support and guidance in the affairs of the corporation. In accordance with the bylaws of the corporation, shareholders are required to provide advance notice of their intent to nominate candidates for directors. As no such notice was received, I declare the nominations for directors closed.
Proxies have been solicited for each of the eight proposed qualified persons nominated for election to the board. Form of proxy for voting on the election of directors sets out each proposed nominee separately and allows shareholders to vote for each director individually. Since the number of nominees does not exceed the number of directors to be elected by the shareholders, I request a motion that each nominee be elected as a director of the corporation to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until his or her successor is elected or appointed, unless their office is vacated earlier in accordance with the company's bylaws.
I, Sudan, so move.
I, Justin, second the motion.
Thank you. We now proceed to voting on this motion. Those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising their hands. Those withholding their vote on the motion, please signify by raising their hands. I declare the motion carried. The next item of business is the appointment of auditors. I would request a motion that Deloitte LLP be appointed auditors of the corporation to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders at such remuneration as shall be fixed by the board of directors.
I, Sudan, move that Deloitte LLP be appointed auditors of the corporation to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders at such remuneration as shall be fixed by the board of directors.
I, Justin, second the motion.
Thank you. We now proceed to voting on the motion. Those in favor of the motion, please signify by raising their hand. Those withholding their vote on the motion, please signify by raising their hand. I declare the motion carried. Is there any other form of business to be properly brought before this meeting? With no such business proposed, at this point, we will answer any questions from registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders. We will answer as many questions as time permits. When asking your question again, please state your name, the entity you represent, if any, and confirm you are a registered shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder. Remember to limit your questions to topics relating to today's subject matter. We would like to remind you that questions that were already answered to that are redundant or repetitive will not be published nor answered.
The question period will now start. There being no questions, we will proceed to termination of the meeting. May I have a motion for the conclusion of the formal portion of today's meeting?
I, Justin, so move.
I, Sudan, second that motion.
Thank you. Would all those in favor indicate as much by raising their right hand? Opposed, if any? I declare the motion carried and this meeting terminated. Again, on behalf of management, the board of directors, and the employees of PetroTal, I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for attending the meeting today and to thank all shareholders for their commitment and continued support. We look forward again to your attendance next year. With that, back to you.
Thank you again, everyone, for joining. That brings an end to the PetroTal 2024 Annual General Meeting.