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[ArtM72]

September 30, 2016 our certification payment

I see that the Interim Certification Payment has been unilaterally moved forward another quarter by SHU members who .....

What part of "middle of 2016" don't we understand?

[Getitrt2]

Getit -  I can readily agree with most of your post, and yes it Might be too early to promote the canning of Hession.  It is too bad we don't really know why he's missed so badly on his drilling timelines.  One thing we can agree on is drilling has been a mess. Another is the price has never recovered from the transformational deal. Another is Hession does not believe in public disclosure  in the absense of clear regulatory requirements.  How much time and money did IOC spend at Wahoo yet we only know there wasn't carbonate.  Why don't we know what he did find?  What's he hiding?

I still can't get over there being no place ready for 116 in such a target rich environment

Art, I think we probably do agree on a lot, but I don't understand the reasons for some of what you are still saying.  I.e., "don't really know why he's missed so badly on his drilling timelines":  How about bad rigs and Ant 4, as I discussed, maybe also getting staffed up for multi-well drilling never done by the Company before.  The Company also addressed this to some extent in the Aug. 13 cc, mentioning as well the need to gather the maximum possible amount of appropriate testing data in every situation to help enable making the right decisions at the right time.  Also, you said, "still can't get over there being no place ready for 116 in such a target rich environment".  In the June AGM presentation, p. 15, they showed a picture of the "Antelope 6 site preparation under way" for spudding in "2H 2015", and in the Aug. 13 cc they said it was "near completion", with Rig 103 going there from Ant 4.  There is a decision under consideration and pending by IOC and the JV about a previous request for Ant 7 by IOC, and obviously a site cannot be prepared until that decision is made.  In the Aug. 13 cc they said on that, "We are looking at the value of information.  That's what drives us, what data we need.  So that's under active discussion within the Joint Venture,and the Joint Venture will come to a conclusion on that in the near future I expect.  We are looking to see what can be the value to the joint venture of any additional appraisal activities."  That would appear to be one place for Rig 116 to go.  Also per the June AGM, p. 27, and the Aug. 13 cc, the Antelope South site location has been agreed upon and approved by the JV, and the timing sometime in 2016 is to be determined by the JV, with the drilling to be done by Total, and the rig to be used highly likely the 115 from Raptor.  Given the indication from OSH they expect to get the 103 back after Ant 6, I guess the Rig 116  could also be seen as a possibility for AS depending on the situation and later decisions.

It seems to me that Ant 7 is where IOC wants Rig 116 to go and where it is most likely to go, unless they could and decided it would work better to fit in Rig 115 between Raptor and Antelope South.   In the Aug. 13 cc, Hession made a strong argument for drilling Ant 7, and seemed to indicate there could be some simultaneus drilling of it along with Ant 6.  Obviously, they would need to get it approved and get to work on the site, but I doubt anything else will be done with Rig 116 before that decision.  Hession also stated, "That doesn't mean that we are relaxing in any way, shape, or form with respect to our schedule."  He spoke about the great performance of the Rig 103 and 115 crews at Ant 5 and Triceratops.  I wonder whether they will be keeping those two crews and/or getting a new one with 116.  In any case, I feel sure PRL 15 will get priority over anything else.  Hession also made another statement I think is very relevant to all this, including the use of rigs and cash in the near term:  "We are prioritizing our capital allocation on discovery resources and continue to maintain financial discipline as we execute our strategy."   I think that means Raptor, Triceratops, and Bobcat over any new exploration targets anyone might want to see for either rig for the time being, although they continue to work on airborne surveys and seismic for prospects.  With respect to Bobcat, per slide 28 of the AGM, 65 km of seismic survey was in progress, which indicates crest is several kilometers west of the current well and potentially several hundred metres higher definition, and they needed to interpret and confirm the validity of the appraisal location before drilling.  I know of no information on the current status of that.  I think it should be considered that after drilling any resource or prospect, they need to do not only testing but further evaluation before selecting and preparing another site in the PNG wilderness.  I feel sure that at some point they will be returning to exploration drilling beyond Antelope South.

Once again, if you want additional information or explanations of any of this, I suggest you talk with or otherwise communicate with Michael Lynn at IOC.