As many others are, I am disappointed at the level this cap...

As many others are, I am disappointed at the level this cap raising is taking place at, but do accept that as circumstances now exist, it is the level we are stuck with. On the flip side if FAR can pull the CR off tonight, then I suspect we are on the way to being a company of substance.

I do think though, FAR should reflect on what they have done over the last five years and make an honest assessment as to whether their entire approach has been the best road. We should never lose sight of how well FAR has done to still be in the game and now close to some clear air…but…Whilst there still remains excitement (certainly within retail shareholders) about a possible win at the ICC, I do wonder whether the company's determination to not back down has possibly resulted in a circumstance that is currently way below where we could have been had we not had the PE issue still hovering. We debated for ages why WPL/COP were seemingly continually wanting to delay procedures at the ICC...I think we can now see why - push everything to the end line and have FAR in a position where time becomes its enemy and FAR have to either back off or accept possible lesser options (and in that comment I include both PE, the project and financing). And at this point in proceedings I do wonder what the next step will be if FAR win in the ICC. The reality is FAR will not be able to raise funds (on their own) to buy the %. So having the big oil backer, or accepting some sort of compensation would seem the only reasonable alternatives.

And when I look at these two options.....I'm not sure the "backer" option is as clear cut as we once thought. Firstly who would it be (CNOOC agreement has expired) and in a time of significant uncertainty for FAR (and they are not in a hugely strong negotiating position), how much would any backer offer? With regard compensation, the same situation would seem to exist where FAR's negotiating strength would seem considerably less than a couple of years ago, hence they may have to accept a fairly restricted offer….and if so - will that offer compensate for the low share price and dilution we are about to encounter?

This is not to say taking on PE was wrong - indeed imo it was the exact thing to do at the time. The problem has come as time has worn on and the ICC got delayed...then project requirements increased, lease renewals arrived, FID timeline drew closer, FAR's share price has been hammered (or as some suspect manipulated), FAR's funding uncertainty increased - essentially everything has converged. The David and Goliath situation we once hailed as potentially awesome has probably been played very well by Goliath - and if it (Goliath) loses, then consequences may now not be all that bad to it.

Over the next few days it would be great to see the debt funding and CR completed...if they are, then FAR has made enormous strides to being the company it wants - unfortunately just from a lower base than possibly we could have been.

dodds