Squire The debate among the JV is where to drill the first...

Squire

The debate among the JV is where to drill the first exploration well not the two initial appraisal wells. FAR have described the appraisal wells as being "low risk" in presentations and CN was pretty clear at the IP that they should be a shoe in and should flow well.

Hot

The impression I got from talking to Cath at the Sydney IP was that some of the companies that hold surrounding leases (read African Petroleum) are currently desperately short of cash (and have little ability to raise more on market, so are looking to farmout their committments on these blocks. In other words if they can't complete the work program that has been agreed with the government they will have to forfeit the blocks. FAR is likely to pick up equity in a block or blocks by carrying say AP's costs or a percentage to do seismic or other pre-drill prospect identification activities. Not huge dollars initially, and my understanding is that drilling may be some way off on these blocks (so plenty of time for FAR to raise the cash needed for that later).

H