Darrell,

I attempted to call you a few minutes ago (late night your time - but there 
was no voicemail).  I didn't want to wait several more days before I contact 
you.  I'm out all weekend.

Eric shared with me some of your concerns about resources for a Korea LNG 
opportunity.  I certainly understand your view but wanted to share some of my 
thoughts.  Rick and/or Clay know the Asian LNG industry better than anyone 
else in the company.  They are very good and I have a lot of faith in them 
and their ability to assess opportunities and develop projects.  They are 
lacking wholesale type of transaction experience that a few of the guys that 
have recently come into the group have.  That is why we have brought them 
in.   We have a very strong team and i like the mix a lot.  

Eric is the person we chose to run the group for many reasons but it wasn't' 
done as a lack of faith in Rick or his original team.  The biggest 
opportunities and the viewpoint we must take in this business is running it 
like a wholesale unit and running it as a portfolio of transactions and 
books.  That certainly doesn't  mean that 20 years of experience doesn't have 
enormous value especially in the non-Atlantic markets.  Rick is in the 
process of coming back to Houston after the shut down of our middle east 
projects and strategy.  Rick is also in the process of assessing what exactly 
he would like to do in the time of transition.  My very sincere hope is that 
he will stay in the LNG group and perform a very important role especially in 
this type of development or deal making role.  Especially  in a big deal in 
Japan, Korea or something in the Asian area.  We will discuss this next week 
when he comes to town.  

I need Eric to be in Houston right now due to our Elba Island, Venezuela and 
Bahamas immediate activity.  He will certainly be engaged in everything but 
he can not be focuses as much as you need in Korea or Joe needs in Japan.

Please give me a call next week and we can discuss this in more detail.

Thanks,
mike


PS - Frevert also likes this role for Rick.  Also the Eric specific head role 
has not been officially announced yet.