And as we know, the Indians and the Chinese are buying assets everywhere in the world. |
Ecuador is a tough economic jurisdiction. There has been recurring issues regarding taxation and government take. |
For Petro-Canada, it's a great price relative to the return they're earning, and they're not exiting the country. They're only exiting that contract, that asset. |
Given that it's the deepest well ever drilled, you might describe it as a new frontier, except the frontier isn't farther out geographically; it's farther down toward the core of the earth. |
I think the big picture restructuring is probably complete. But they could be opening the door to doing something larger on the acquisition side. |
I think this signals the looming departure of John Lau. |
It was disappointing, especially given that we are in such a rich market for oil and (refined) products. But on the other hand, if these issues are going to hit you, better that it happen in such a strong price environment. |
The name never came up. It's bizarre...Is Shell going to compete with itself, or is this a way of not diluting its interest (with other investors)? |
There's a bit of a mentality in the industry that if you don't have the land, then you're short of luck. |
You might have thought in this price environment [$60-a-barrel oil] that you might have got a bonus, but Ecuador is a difficult political and economic regime for the oil industry. |