just a theory ..., page-32

G'day kahuna....nice post - it was a good read.

Just regarding the 12% take up by the Mauritanian government - this is based on the daily production rates from the respective field. From talking to Scot Spencer, for production rates of up to 75k bopd they can only take up 12%. For fields with higher production it increases to up to 16% (such as Tiof with up to 150k bopd). They said in the material you referenced that they had the right to buy into up to 16%, but they didn't mention the conditions and qualifications on that - basically they took the most they could from Ching.

Like russellfiji mentioned, I'm not too big on conspiracy theories, although I'm sure there's always someone working for the big boys such as Woodside to try and get the most out of Mauritania for themselves (and screw anyone else!.....and I'm sure that would include forcing the Mauritanian govt to chip in a little bit more - that part of your post really came across well and makes a lot of sense......makes things cheaper for us too, if we're still around to reap the benefits.)

Cheers,
Butcherano.