thanks for the articleIt's a believable theory.What makes it...

thanks for the article

It's a believable theory.

What makes it believable, imho, is Hunt's withdrawal was at the same time as the extension being granted.

It might have been a standoff. The JV submissions demanded a majority control - Hunt didn't want to give up that much percentage or control - Senegal gov't is impatient and obviously wants the project to proceed ASAP.

Having 10% of the venture, Senegal would have been aware of the demands of the JV's submissions, and threatened not to extend the agreement knowing Hunt would either have to cave into the JV's demands, accept responsibility of the next drilling stage of the agreement or relinguish their holding to FAR

Hunt folds and walks away from the table, not wanting to keep even a small percentage due to the legal implications of a drilling commitment.

FAR gets 90% control.

Knowing that the JV terms can now be met, Senegal immediately grants an extension allowing FAR to finalise the negotiations in a timely manner -- but negotiations will be concluded well before 12 months. Thus the reason why FAR's announcement of both events came out at the same time.

And perhaps - over the last few months- one or more of the JV's were quietly whispering in Senegal gov'ts ear that drilling can start quite quickly if they just were able to have majority control! Maybe it was a Chinese whisper?

That's my conspiracy theory for today..

and if its all true .. FAR is definitely the winner.