RE:RE:RE:Thinking about 2014 guidanceHoney Pot
You seem fixated on the cost of carrying the unused bank facility. Yes there is a cost,although in the scheme of things modest, however it also provides flexibility should the company need it for any general corporate purpose. You can also imagine that the credit rating agencies are happy to see the company has this readily available backstop financing should they need it. My guess is that absent this facility during a period of high capex the rating agencies might feel more concerned about the company's financial flexibility and reflect that concern in the rating and implicitly in what the market is for the companies bonds. Basically higher interst rates on the long-term debt.
Regardless , you and many others have been frustrated with the operational performance of Syncrude and for good reason. The heat has to be turning up on Syncrude, XOM, all the JV partners, as a result of shareholder dissatisfaction. I beleive we will begin to see meaningful improvements as a result but if I am wrong the remaining options may involve big strategic ownership/ managemt changes. It simply can't continue as iit has.
pie hope the new CEO iprovides greater visibility into what the operational problems are and the plan to remedy them. This to me should be the heart of his first presentation.. I beleive the investment community has been waiting for this clarity for a long time. Simply tell all of us what the problemi is and what the plan and timeline is to get us to 350,000 BOPD at Syncrude.
Pardon any typos I don't have my glasses on.