- They did have a friendly counterparty and were able to pay...

- They did have a friendly counterparty and were able to pay their bills. Contingency - noun : a provision for a possible event or circumstance.

- Of course they haven't paid for the current well as the outgoings aren't due. This seems to be the concept that you can't wrap your head around. You don't need to have the cash on hand, simply the ability to cover your dues when they are due. As far as costings and over runs - that's why you have tight contract terms and contingencies built in. Do you really, really think that they're so amateur that they wouldn't have appropriately planned to that level for a circa $10m well???