Walldog,
thanx. I believe that you are correct in that Pinto da Costa was president from 1975-1991. The relationships political and biological run pretty tight in STP. It seems that alliances are continously being formed and broken to fit the current needs of the parties involved.
It seems that the overall popular sentiment is that there is ongoing corruption by the current powers that be. With the push for oil in STP recently, these sentiments have been heightened-see 2003 coup attempt. Furthermore, it appears that many in STP feel that there is too much outside meddling with their internal affairs. Naturally, this makes for a dicey situation for de Menezes. He doesn't want to appear too cozey with the Nigerians-even though he is indepted to them for helping restore order during the 2003 coup. Yet, he has the unenviably task of reminding his countrymen that STP has a treaty with Nigeria that must be honored. Given this unpopular task he has smartly and accurately pointed the finger to the previous administration for the current state of affairs.
De Menezes too has been very quiet lately. I'm sure that he is trying to get the PSCs done by working behind the scenes with the JMC/JDZ members and relevent Nigerian authorities. He sure doesn't want to come across publicly as trying to push the process- too dangerous politically. Surely, he wants the revenue from the signed contracts before elections and hopefully is aware of the potential ramifications if CVX hits a duster.
Meanwhile, his opponents have motivation to drag this process out. A dangerous game indeed, but as Magic posted: the stakes are extremely high. The lust for power/control appears to be reaching beyond the threshold of reason. Left to their own devices, the STPers are placing themselves in a precarious position. Let's hope for news soon on the JMC meeting. Perhaps Mark could give us an update.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
