All good points TxPm.
My concern with Mitsui goes back to a discussion in late October on the Yahoo board where Binc said Mitsui was out. I invite you to do a quick search on Yahoo and you will see the discussion. I also believe the idea was discussed on this board.
The stock had been hammered pretty good at that time. In trying to piece together the reasons we were down so much from the September highs, it seemed that along with the abrupt notion of selling more gas to the government, that something had queered the bids and Mitsui was out. I couldn't dismiss it out of hand. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who felt this way.
I have no knowledge of the bidding process other than what has been reported in the press.
We are facing another deadline with Mitsui. I think the stock has discounted a high probability that Mitsui asks for their money back.
If they extend the agreement that would only be a positive.
If they walk, first of all IOC has the money to pay them, secondly it implies a potentially higher bid and also it frees them to make an offer for the entire company.