I have recently had communications with senior management from Shell's upstream international division, and my inquiries about InterOil yielded responses that were indicative of significant interest. There has been a confluence of subsequent events that make me confident Shell very recently submitted an unsolicited bid for InterOil's resource.
Today's news of InterOil pulling the Exxon exclusivity just as closure seemed imminent confirms my suspicions and I now see only two possible near-term outcomes:
1) Exxon scrambles to close immediately and on InterOil's terms, or
2) The bidding war that I predicted, for the resource or for the entire company, ensues
Either way, today's report will mark the beginning of a culmination process that will yield an extraordinary near-term outcome for InterOil shareholders. If the PngIndustryNews report is true, it is a very positive indication.