IT'S BEEN 2 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!

[Getitrt2]

"suggestive of corruption at the core of this company"?  Really???  In what way?  How in hell would you put that interpretation on it?

First, I do not believe IOC to be corrupt, but four years of reading blogs have certainly provided plenty of examples of people who believe IOC and its owners and their associates as being corrupt.  My implicit point was simply that a pretty basic instinctive question is why hide something unless you are doing something that's "wrong" according to common social/political/business mores?  Maybe Hession and his team have been hired to make the switch from the open air deals of Mulacek and his people to under the table off record deals more befitting traditional PNG political culture and those who have dealt for decades in the Middle East.  I don't know obviously, but that certainly is a possibility.

Just offering it all as a possibility, the truth of which is today not knowable.

You did not address my first two questions.

What is it you think they are "hiding", beyond maintaining appropriate confidentiality of the parties and negotiations?

That is NOT why Hession and his team were hired, and I think it "certainly" is NOT any reasonable possibility and even ridiculous to think so.

You do not believe IOC to be "corrupt", but perhaps doing something "wrong" and/or immoral?  Say what?  You see no contradiction or double talk there?  I think you are engaging in inappropriately negative and ludicrous raw speculation that you have no foundation for and does not belong on this forum, to the point of wondering about your motives more than about those of IOC.  "Just offering it all as a possibility, the truth of which is today not knowable", as you say.

Getit -

As I tried to make clear, I do not believe IOC to be corrupt.  What I tried to do is bracket a range of perspectives likely held in the market about why IOC has gone opaque for nine months.  I have stated my view that likely there exists a serious issue with Gulf Province regarding where the gas is processed, an issue that will ultimately require the guarantee of an LNG facility in Gulf Province.  Resolution of that issue may well require a partner or partners to build that facility, along with the necessary takeoff contracts, something that certainly doesn't happen overnight.  Maybe the Japanese have stepped into that situation with a serious offer based on a contract cutting the link between oil and gas pricing.  Just how do you think XOM, RDS or Total would react to such a proposal?  How would that impact pricing of gas for any takeoff contracts from Trains 3 or 4?  Legitimate questions all, but just where is the harm in keeping investors appraised of the general situation?

True, I don't have any idea what confidentiality agreements might still exist among the various parties, but bidding closed over seven months ago and a "winner" was announced.   IOC is supposed to be a public corporation.  They should act like it...if only a little bit...and stop hiding everything behind the term "material event".  Is it material that confidentiality lapsed or didn't?  Is it material that negotiation have occurred or are occuring with x, y and/or z companies?  Is it material that drilling plans by PRE in Triceratops have changed?   Information relative to these questions has an undeniable impact on the market price of IOC, something very, very material to many of us.

With regard to whether these questions belong on this board?  Well, I don't believe this board was ever meant to assemble a herd and I've rarely followed crowds. What ulterior motives I might have in pursuing this topic?  None but a attempt to find dots to connect in a way that makes sense for my investment.  At the end of the day I'm just doing what everybody else has done for the past nine months, and that is to speculate.  That's all this corporation has allowed us.

Art:  "IOC has gone opaque for nine months." ...  "for the past nine months, and that is to speculate.  That's all this corporation has allowed us."  Since January 17?  Really?  Where have you been?  Those statements are ignorantly erroneous or just lies.  Which is it?

"stop hiding everything behind the term "material event" "  Another false statement imo.  I don't think there is any such conspiratorial intent, and I think their experienced executive, financial, and investor relations team members understand the proper definition of material event in the securities markets than you do.  Also, those events become "material" when they are final, not when they are still prospective, things that may or may not occur.

Gulf politics are an issue to be considered by the national government in determining what is best for the country.  However, that determination will be made at the national level, not in the province, and ECONOMICS will be the primary determinant;  and PNG is a PARTNER in all these projects and has a HUGE stake in the success of their monetization and their profitability, which is largely in sync with the interests of all the private companies involved, including IOC.  I'm sorry you don't seem to fully understand that.  I agree that is part of what IOC is working on.  They have actually stated as much, but we are not going to get a blow-by-blow account of it all, and would not from any company.  Live with it!

I'm sure the Japanese and other Asian companies would like to cut the link between oil and gas pricing now, although the long-term effect of that might be more uncertain than they think.  However, any proposal they make will have to be competitive with others, so that I feel sure that is not a major concern in this situation as you seem to be trying to say.  I also think I can just about guarantee you that Exxon is not going to entertain any such major pricing "reforms" for additional trains of PNG LNG.  Furthermore, they do not need to finalize off-take contracts for additional trains before completing a deal with IOC, as IOC probably would have to operating on its own.

Your accusation that I might see this board as meant to assemble, or resemble, a "herd" is false, and I don't have a problem with "speculation" or conjecture that is reasonable and accurate and not full of false or distorted statements and ridiculous negative commentary.  You are doing a lot more than "attempting to find dots to connect', imo.  I do not see the board, however, as a place for useless, inaccurate, and baseless whining and accusations, which I think you are engaging in a lot of, while venting your frustrations.  I am also getting to the point of concluding I am mostly wasting my time responding to you considering the junk so much of it is, or trying to help you understand that, and therefore will try to refrain from responding in the future as much as I can.  Sorry if you think I am being too critical or direct;  maybe I am venting some of my frustrations with some things, too.