blue skies turning to grey for hardman, page-14

Hi davfitz

Finally found time to read your open letter to HDR. While in general agreement that Simon should be given a stir along I did point out yesterday that he has released quite a bit of information recently by way of the GOC, ELC and the Open Briefing. I agree that we still didn't get much of the crucial info we were after such as whether particular wells were "scientific" or driven by a need to relinquish...although once again Simon did say in a more recent Dow Jones interview that "we don't drill wells to be failures..we drill wells to be commercial successes"...which to some extent tells us what his expectations were. What that says to me is that what you are saying about a "stand-off" between WPL and HDR is spot on and that Simon may be to some extent "out-of-the-loop". We also still have no idae where CSEMI was used .. and from what I have been told we won't be getting that info as it is confidential.

I reckon Simon needs to improve his act, get WPL back on side and be more out-there like Ted was in terms of realtions with shareholders big and small. But what I reckon we need most is a more upbeat and positive approach from WPL...and unfortunately their current attitude is nothing new ...we have been waiting years for it to improve!!!! From past experience .. once WPL's commercial imperatives have been met (like when they talked down Mauritania then bought out ENI cheaply) .. they will raving about Mauritania. I reckon that WPL and BG are negotiating with the Mauritanian's about gas development terms .. and once that is signed and sealed it will be all systems go!

Thanks for your efforts.. and I would be VERY interested in any reply you might receive! Let's all try now to return to being positive and supportive of HDR!

H