Petrel Resources - moderated discussion/research part II

Mixy, the oil majors won`t miss out this time, mark my words. The majors will tender big time and then just sit on their contracts. Security was never an issue for the majors but the legality of the contracts always were/ are! That is why they did not move in the past. They believed, rightly, that the interim government did not have the power to give out PSAs and if they did the legality of them could be challenged in the courts by an elected government or whoever. Once the HCL is given the OK by the Iraqi cabinet the PSAs will be legal and put up for auction to the highest bidder. That has always been the plan. The idea is to raise as much cash as possible as soon as possible. There will be no favouritism, the IOM has already said so. Once the PSAs are in place the majors will then put pressure on the Iraqis to provide the security by using the armed forces if necessary to get the oil flowing. If this doesn`t work the majors will then just sit on the contracts until the security situation improves. Having X amount of reserves will go on the balance sheet and the oil company can then wait till the cows come home, if necessary!