11-17-2012, 02:55 PM
Bertl, please disregard Crooze's statement he has ratings envy. Besides that he's been out trying to bag a deer and keeps missing these prize bucks. We found out why today. This top notch bow he has been using is from Wal-Mart and the arrows come complete with rubber suction cups; he forgot to take them off. Now there are a couple of prize bucks running around with little white arrows stuck to their sides.
With EWC its a story of an innovator treading into territory dominated by bigs. But that world is changing as more and more of the projects are breaking the bank budget-wise and financing is getting tougher and governments like PNG, Indon, The Philippines etc are taking a hard look at the traditional model. I remember you and Michael S on Yazoo stating several times that you were hearing Shell would be forced on IOC and EWC had been kicked to the curb. EWC has never been out as far as IOC is concerned. We all have our sources but I can't believe that my sources know all of what is going on behind the scenes, nor should you believe yours do. We have all been surprised many times as this has progressed.
As far as the international operator "being added in again"; that requirement was never rescinded. That's standard requirement of PNG. OSH had to bring one in, and it was EXXON. IOC's PA required it from the start. The point was stressed with IOC when they tried to stray from it saying they had enough experience on their team. PNG reiterated the requirement to them some time ago.
The interesting thing that no one has pointed out yet is that PNG seems to have made a shift in strategy. They have always said a project must be fully integrated as PNG LNG is. They even stated that to IOC strongly at one point when IOC introduced EWC and Flex plans. This PR says nothing about that and mentions the possibility of two separate LNG plants. We've heard that there was a major breakthrough with the government. We've heard that O'Neill suddenly decided to pay a visit to Indon to tour the EWC "facilities" there. He then stated that he was very impressed with what he saw and and knew how to help EWC avoid some of the roadblocks it had encountered. I think we can interpret that as super majors who interfere with EWC's success like they ran into in both Indon and PNG. In PNG EWC was blessed by the government until Shell came along. IOC had a very good relationship with both Petromin and Duma before Shell came along. When O'Neill came in he smacked Shell and told them to stop with the old ways and come in "through the front door". I'm not so sure everyone at Petromin is against IOC. O'Neill is very smart. His two committees he has appointed to oversee the process contain several very loyal people and they have just 2 weeks. Very short time to hammer this out. Keeps people more honest.
And to read too much into this termination clause being suspended pending the negotiation is a little dangerous. Its as much a way of saying, "Enough talk, get it hammered out". O'Neill has repeatedly said he wants to work with IOC to get things finalized and fast-tracked.
Interesting thing will be to see that IF they do a separate LNG plant, where will it be and will THEY choose EWC to do power plants, LNG and possibly the CSP? Could happen.
With EWC its a story of an innovator treading into territory dominated by bigs. But that world is changing as more and more of the projects are breaking the bank budget-wise and financing is getting tougher and governments like PNG, Indon, The Philippines etc are taking a hard look at the traditional model. I remember you and Michael S on Yazoo stating several times that you were hearing Shell would be forced on IOC and EWC had been kicked to the curb. EWC has never been out as far as IOC is concerned. We all have our sources but I can't believe that my sources know all of what is going on behind the scenes, nor should you believe yours do. We have all been surprised many times as this has progressed.
As far as the international operator "being added in again"; that requirement was never rescinded. That's standard requirement of PNG. OSH had to bring one in, and it was EXXON. IOC's PA required it from the start. The point was stressed with IOC when they tried to stray from it saying they had enough experience on their team. PNG reiterated the requirement to them some time ago.
The interesting thing that no one has pointed out yet is that PNG seems to have made a shift in strategy. They have always said a project must be fully integrated as PNG LNG is. They even stated that to IOC strongly at one point when IOC introduced EWC and Flex plans. This PR says nothing about that and mentions the possibility of two separate LNG plants. We've heard that there was a major breakthrough with the government. We've heard that O'Neill suddenly decided to pay a visit to Indon to tour the EWC "facilities" there. He then stated that he was very impressed with what he saw and and knew how to help EWC avoid some of the roadblocks it had encountered. I think we can interpret that as super majors who interfere with EWC's success like they ran into in both Indon and PNG. In PNG EWC was blessed by the government until Shell came along. IOC had a very good relationship with both Petromin and Duma before Shell came along. When O'Neill came in he smacked Shell and told them to stop with the old ways and come in "through the front door". I'm not so sure everyone at Petromin is against IOC. O'Neill is very smart. His two committees he has appointed to oversee the process contain several very loyal people and they have just 2 weeks. Very short time to hammer this out. Keeps people more honest.
And to read too much into this termination clause being suspended pending the negotiation is a little dangerous. Its as much a way of saying, "Enough talk, get it hammered out". O'Neill has repeatedly said he wants to work with IOC to get things finalized and fast-tracked.
Interesting thing will be to see that IF they do a separate LNG plant, where will it be and will THEY choose EWC to do power plants, LNG and possibly the CSP? Could happen.