Oily,
Without knowing the details of the Exxon offer it is hard to make a real judgement on that offer vs Total's. Rumors are that Exxon wanted to pay for PRL15 only, possibly in a substantial amount of cash, but also possibly without IOC participation in any LNG plant(s). Hession at one time mentioned a philosophy of find it, prove it up, sell it and move to the next prospect(s). However he also mentioned a desire to participate through minority interests in LNG production.
Total offered "more" in the way of participation in projects, but not only in PNG. There was a bit of fanfare about opportunities outside of PNG, and the carrot of payolas for resources/reserves as they were discovered and developed. This came at a cost of pay-as-you-go which the markets heavily discounted in valuation; thus the pps plunge in Dec 2013 from which we never recovered.
Hindsight is 20/20 but what happened after the "transformational deal" (including the botched announcement in joint with Total) exposed Hession's (IMO) extreme inability to function as necessary in the CEO role. He simply (again IMO) was a rookie when what was needed was a seasoned veteran. BUT he seemed to be the only interested party after the BOD and PM parted ways. Problem was the BOD offerered Hession a pay package that in many ways exceeded even what a seasoned veteran earned. And they let him get away without living up to the corporate requirement that execs be substantially invested in IOC stock. He took what was part of his pay package in options, but did next to nothing as far as putting his own cash at risk. Unlike PM and others who were part of IOC's earlier days and used own cash to invest substantially in IOC stock. Hession simply had very little to lose by his actions and everything to gain. That never works in an an exploration company like IOC.
Pretty amazing debacle.
Without knowing the details of the Exxon offer it is hard to make a real judgement on that offer vs Total's. Rumors are that Exxon wanted to pay for PRL15 only, possibly in a substantial amount of cash, but also possibly without IOC participation in any LNG plant(s). Hession at one time mentioned a philosophy of find it, prove it up, sell it and move to the next prospect(s). However he also mentioned a desire to participate through minority interests in LNG production.
Total offered "more" in the way of participation in projects, but not only in PNG. There was a bit of fanfare about opportunities outside of PNG, and the carrot of payolas for resources/reserves as they were discovered and developed. This came at a cost of pay-as-you-go which the markets heavily discounted in valuation; thus the pps plunge in Dec 2013 from which we never recovered.
Hindsight is 20/20 but what happened after the "transformational deal" (including the botched announcement in joint with Total) exposed Hession's (IMO) extreme inability to function as necessary in the CEO role. He simply (again IMO) was a rookie when what was needed was a seasoned veteran. BUT he seemed to be the only interested party after the BOD and PM parted ways. Problem was the BOD offerered Hession a pay package that in many ways exceeded even what a seasoned veteran earned. And they let him get away without living up to the corporate requirement that execs be substantially invested in IOC stock. He took what was part of his pay package in options, but did next to nothing as far as putting his own cash at risk. Unlike PM and others who were part of IOC's earlier days and used own cash to invest substantially in IOC stock. Hession simply had very little to lose by his actions and everything to gain. That never works in an an exploration company like IOC.
Pretty amazing debacle.