Hey bwldforbucks1
I have also been doing some research regarding the pipelines and ha e come up with several thoughts. 1) one of our directors (owner of the bin jallah group) is in the process of constructing a seamless pipe factory specifically for pipeline construction. This could work in our favour in the sense that we would have a contact with the people actually building the pipelines, and perhaps leverage that relationship to gain access to said pipelines. Furthermore, I encourage you to check out their website where it lists their resources....they have several asphalt plants and I am assuming access to to trucks for shipping that may be able to purchase what these local entrepreneurs cannot (assuming there is any surplus) that said, the idea proposed by MHT is a novel one to me that had not crossed my mind, the only thing I would be concerned about is how much the discount must be to make it economical for these guys to ship it to the existing refineries. 2) if you would like a good map of the existing and proposed pipelines there is a great diagram in the most recent westernzagros presentation (they operate in kurdistan - pg 7). I agree the cost recovery factor is huge and the province has been extremely generous in this regard. One question I would openly ask for everyone to comment on is "does production from one or all wells constitute commercialization and require berkely to ante up their 30 percent that sonoro has been carrying them thus far or is the topping facility the development that triggers this - either way I will be asking dale the next time we speak.
JV wise, I am hoping that they start optioning off the "blue fairway" which is is in the top left area of the map and seems to me to have the least ammount of sesmic done. This would be a good opportunity to build upside, expplore more areas that we would typically not have the resources for (and potentially develop) and put us in a position to raise funds in a non-dilutive fashion. ( I believe this will be the trend going forward because of the large equity positions held by the management of this company) Furthermore, this will allow us to concentrate on the Jeribe formation and that middle fairway that seems to be completely seismic mapped. I would also submit to the board for evaluation the speculation that once Sonoro really gets rolling it will have the cash, contacts, and infrastructure in place to make a very compelling argument that they will be able to capitalize and exercise their preferential rights to develop the lighter oil I PERSONALLY believe is present at larger depths.
I agree with everyone regarding the civil contracts and their current status, but I am hoping our contacts with the bin jallah group will help us out there, the only question there is will they try to build goodwill by hiring smaller local construction companies? In addition, I am hoping that given the terrain it would not be difficult to build a 4km dirt road to the sites (excuse my ignorance if I am incorrect). Lastly, I am kinda hoping that they will have settled the simple civil contracts earlier in the month and just did not announce it because they were waiting to do it all together with the drilling contracts ( my rationale here is that the resource upgrade was dated July 1 and they sat on it for 25 days...which actually kinda pissed me off to be honest.
In any case these are my opinions and my hopeful speculation. I look forward to the fall campaign and everyone else's thoughts.
jw
