Hi SpineFX:Yes, I'm familiar with the Alaska Supreme Court case...

Hi SpineFX:

Yes, I'm familiar with the Alaska Supreme Court case you cited. Essentially, it boiled down to a dispute between Bill Rutter and the Renaissance managers regarding their agreement(s). Rutter won and got to keep his ORRI in the lease acquired by Craig & Zamarello in 2002. For the other readers, this dispute and its settlement by the Supreme Court has no bearing on the ETE assets to the N, NW, and NE.

I agree that cash is an issue for ETE. The company will need to either raise some capital or find a partner to conduct the 3D seismic survey (farm in). We'll see how that plays out. But the company has no debt (at least I'm not aware of any) and is not on the brink of receivership. So, it seems to me there is room to move forward.

Regarding the Umiat Oil Field, bear in mind that the Ghawar Oil Field was discovered in 1948 and first oil was produced from it in 1951. The Navy made a decision at that time to rely on Saudi oil rather than developing a billion barrels of oil in place at Umiat. The field was mothballed, a USGS report was published regarding the 11 wells and not a lot happened until Arctic Falcon picked up the south half of the field around 2000.

And until Armstrong had the vision, guts, and cash to drill the Pikka, nobody was talking "Nanushuk." CP was quietly working on the Willow wells. And now the rush is on. CP recently took financiers/investors on a tour of the Willow. Oil Search is hoping for production to begin at Pikka by 2014. Oil Search is already processing some oil through ENI's production facilities but the volumes are pale in comparison with what will come.

Keep in mind when Armstrong drilled the Horseshoe, he was stepping out about 40 miles south. Yes, the Winx did not have adequate reservoir quality rock from which to flow the oil. And, yes... it was about 4 miles from the Horseshoe well - to the east outside of the NPR-A boundary. One well does not confirm the areal extent of a reservoir. And one duster on the east side of the Colville River does not even begin to condemn NPR-A.

My best guess is that some of ETE's acreage is moose pasture. And some of the acreage is probably very oily. The only way to know for sure is to complete the 3D seismic survey, identify optimal targets, and drill. The way the Nanushuk was formed 100M to 200M years ago in drapes across a N-S continental shelf, oil won't be found in one big anticline like at Prudhoe Bay. But where oil is found in either a topset or bottomset of the draping sedimentation, the quantities of oil may be quite large and the quality of the reserves should be great - commanding a premium price at the wellhead due to the BTU content.

Cheers.