[MichaelCorleone]

“But the report is incorrect in one or more material respects. Statoil didn’t buy the acreage in fee. What they got was an undivided interest in oil and gas leasehold covering this 70,000 acres. There is a difference.”

Okay , that’s a horse of a different color then. Thanks for taking the time to provide that information. You seem to have a good amount of experience in this area.

BTW, you’re not T Boone Pickens hiding behind the name ‘Milton’ are you? (only kidding)

[Milton Miteybad]

Nope. Not T. Boone Pickens. One look at the balance sheets for Milton Miteybad and T. Boone Pickens would remove all doubt or confusion. ;-)

My point was that the article was written by someone who has little or no understanding of the domestic oil and gas biz. By his/her poor choice of words, this author had some people concluding that there was something really sinister happening, when what Statoil had done was pretty much an everyday type of working interest deal.

Frankly, if it were up to Milton Miteybad, nobody who works in the capacity of a reporter or journalist would be permitted to write or opine about the oil and gas business, precisely because of this type of simple-minded approach that tends to mislead rather than inform.