may be smashed tomorrow...3c, page-28

re: may be a scam? Scenario 1...

Company 'X' has already found oil on their Puntland "ground"...lots of oil...in fact, over 200m barrels recoverable from initial investigations.

I suggest people do a little digging here.

Since then, company 'X' has been hanging around Somalia like a bad smell...in spite of the dangers involved...in the hope that when things finally settle, they will be guaranteed access to their particularly interesting "ground".

But there is now a problem...some little up-start by the name of Consort (and by extension RRS) has moved in on your "ground"...in effect, becoming a kind of de-facto "Puntland Department of Minerals and Energy".

Now what do they do?

Step 1: Dirty tricks campaign...
Throw mud, spread misinformation and generally try to disrupt the contract ratification process. It won’t bring the process to a halt...but it may weaken their opponent’s position slightly.

Step 2: Divide and concur...
Play rival sides off against each other, namely TFG and Puntland...given recent conflicts and the fragile nature of the political scene, this would not be such a difficult task.

Step 3: Initiate closed-door talks with US government "authorities" with a view to finding a possible way to "fix" the problem, either politically or militarily. Not sure I really want to go down this path.

Step 4: Initiate talks with RRS, with a view to negotiating a JV arrangement so that work on the ground can re-commence as soon as possible...all the while, fully aware of their other behind-the-scenes clandestine activities. In effect, this would amount to hedging their bets!

Step 5: Initiate corporate due diligence on RRS, with a view to possibly making a hostile bid for the company and finally ridding yourself of this pest...oh yeah, as well as grabbing the 50.1% of puntland for yourself!

LOL...conspiracy theorists, eat your hearts out!

Cheers!