Hi Barker, according to the presentation today, this isn't clear...

Hi Barker, according to the presentation today, this isn't clear and CTP is negotiating with Santos since the eventuality of a well being 95% completed but then encountering unexpected technical challenges wasn't really covered in the initial agreement. Leon Devaney expects Santos to come back and complete the well with a suitable rig (although this isn't 100% certain yet) and expects them to earn the 70% interest. He said it would be surprising to have a scenario where CTP wants to complete the well but Santos doesn't think it would be worthwhile (with a multi-TCF potential target I can't see it happening either!). It doesn't sound like he is interested in playing hardball with them over well delivery times, mainly because it appears that getting a rig quickly may be difficult. If they took an unreasonable argument over a contingency not even covered in the initial agreement I wouldn't like CTP's chances of success. IMO CTP would not want to get in a legal fight with a company the size of Santos, they could drown CTP in litigation, not to mention it might mean Dukas never gets completed due to the uncertainty around it. Also damaging CTP's reputation as a partner that operates in good faith when we're about to go looking for capital investment would seem a very bad idea with regard to Santos and other potential major or minor companies. What would IPL think! Leon stressed that CTP has a very good working relationship with Santos in the talk which appeared appropriately diplomatic in this situation.
Personally I would much rather see CTP work constructively with Santos, if we get 30% of a large play that will still be company changing and give us the capacity to explore those giant untested and fully owned targets identified in the recent review. The large oil target 8km from Surprise looks interesting in the mid term too, I suspect we will hear the name Mamlambo (this may be spelt incorrectly) with an estimate of 31 million barrels of oil at a current estimation of 30% chance of success quite a bit more in the near future!