Hi jswood, your comment re the Mauritanian gov't wanting to revise the conditions under which the J/V is operating may not be far of the mark, at least in relation to the market's perception of risks going forward (and this is a very risk-averse market, as all bear markets are of course).
WPL's ann. last Monday included this: "Mr Akehurst congratulated the Mauritanian Government and the people of Mauritania on these encouraging results."
HDR tagged the following on the end of their ann.: "The confidence and support of the Mauritanian government over the past six years is greatly appreciated."
HDR has certainly had a very constructive relationship with the gov't and authorities of Mauritania to date, and hopefully these comments by WPL and HDR do not indicate any nervousness about their positions being white-anted by any US majors, for example. Personally I do not think this is the case but who knows what might be going on behind the scenes?
Cheers
HDR Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held