Exhibit 10.2
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[CMI LOGO]
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CHALLENGER MINERALS INC.
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A GlobalSantaFe Company
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15375 Memorial Drive
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Langlands House
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Suite G200
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Huntly Street
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Houston, Texas 77079
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Aberdeen AB10 1SH
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USA
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Scotland
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Tel (281) 925 7200
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Tel +44 (0) 1224 654400
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Fax (281) 925 7280
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Fax +44 (0) 1224 654478
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4 December 2003
Reef Partners LLC
1901 N. Central Expressway, Suite
300
Richardson, TX 75080
Attn:
Mr. H. Walt Dunagin
Vice President - Land
Re:
Reef /CMI North Sea Joint Venture
Agreement
North Sea & Atlantic
Margin
Gentlemen:
Challenger Minerals Inc.
(“CMI”), a California corporation, and Reef Partners
LLC (“Reef”), a Nevada Limited Liability Company,
collectively referred to herein as the “Parties” or
individually as a “Party”, desire to enter into this
agreement (“Agreement”) to facilitate the review of,
and participation in, Prospects in the North Sea Region, as defined
in Paragraph 2 below. The terms and conditions governing this
Agreement are as follows:
1.
Term
: Unless earlier terminated
under the other provisions hereof, the term of this Agreement shall
be for a period of three (3) years commencing 1 December 2003
(“Effective Date”) and expiring 30 November 2006
(“Termination Date”), each of which years commencing
with the Effective Date or its anniversary shall be deemed a
“Participation Year”; provided, however, that the
confidentiality and non-competition provisions hereof shall survive
termination of this Agreement for the contractual time period
provided herein or in any applicable agreement with a third party
to which Reef is or becomes bound or, if no such period is provided
for, then for a period of two (2) years after the expiration date
hereof.
2.
Prospects
: Reef shall have the right
and option, but not the obligation, to acquire up to five percent
(5%) of the interest made available to CMI in all offshore
Prospects located in the North Sea Region, as defined below, as
such Prospects are identified and initially reviewed by CMI during
the term of this Agreement (“CMI North Sea Joint
Venture”), subject however to the provisions of Paragraph 16
below regarding lapse of Prospects and of Paragraph 4.F. below as
to potential exclusion of Reef by the Selling Party as to any
particular Prospect for reasons that may include but are not
limited to Reef’s failure to commit to participate for a
minimum percentage interest in the Prospect or due to the number of
CMI North Sea Joint Venture partners desiring to participate
therein. For the
Reef Partners LLC
4 December 2003
purposes of this Agreement, a
“Prospect” is defined as (a) an interest in a well or
wells located in offshore waters in the “North Sea
Region”, defined herein to cover the North Sea and the
Atlantic Ocean continental shelf margin of the countries of the
United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and
Germany, or (b) a participation right or other interest in a lease,
license or other agreement relating to the offshore waters of the
North Sea Region, in either case regarding geologic targets in a
specific geographic area related to a identified geologic
structure, and/or stratigraphic interval or other trapping
mechanism, and which is believed to be susceptible to commercial
development of oil, gas and other minerals in accordance with
standard and accepted industry practices from an open water
drilling location or platform. All existing Prospects
previously or currently under review by CMI (except as to
participation interest remaining available as of the Effective
Date) and leases currently owned in whole or part by CMI are
excluded from this Agreement.
3.
Participation
Fee : In
consideration of its rights hereunder to consider participation in
Prospects, Reef shall pay CMI as a Participation Fee the total sum
of U.S. $225,000.00 during the term of this Agreement, in three
equal annual payments of U.S. $75,000.00 each payable to CMI on or
before 1 December in the years 2003, 2004 and 2005; provided,
that the first such payment shall not be due until a date five (5)
business days after this Agreement is fully executed. Other
than such Participation Fee, there shall be no fees or burdens in
favor of CMI as to the interest Reef may elect to acquire in any
Prospect, and no obligation upon Reef to acquire an interest in any
particular Prospect or in a minimum number of Prospects during the
term of this Agreement.
4.
Opportunity
Evaluation :
CMI shall use its reasonable efforts to identify, evaluate and
provide Reef with notice of potential opportunities to participate
in Prospects. Upon presentation to CMI of a potential
opportunity to participate in a Prospect generated by a third party
or upon generation of such a Prospect by CMI (such third parties,
or CMI in the event it generates such a Prospect, being
collectively called “Selling Parties”), CMI shall
determine if or when a potential Prospect may be worthy of further
consideration, and as to each such potential Prospect, CMI shall
promptly notify Reef, providing a brief description of the
Prospect, to include (when available) the initial well location,
name of Operator, estimated leasehold, seismic and initial well
costs, water depth and reserve potential (collectively, the
“Initial Prospect Information”). Reef shall then
promptly advise CMI whether Reef is already pursuing the Prospect;
and, if such is the case, Reef shall promptly advise CMI as to
whether it will continue to pursue the Prospect on its own or
jointly with CMI under either the terms of this Agreement or on
other mutually acceptable terms. If Reef elects to continue
to pursue the Prospect on its own, the parties shall endeavor in
good faith to resolve any areas of competition, if possible.
If Reef does not so notify CMI of its separate pursuit of any such
potential Prospect(s) within ten (10) days after such initial
notice by CMI (or such shorter period for Reef’s decision as
is required, in CMI’s opinion, to prevent loss of an
opportunity to acquire an interest in a Prospect), CMI and Reef
shall jointly proceed as otherwise set forth in this
Agreement. With respect to any evaluations to be conducted
by either Party hereunder, either
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individually or jointly,
including an Initial Prospect Review or a further review under this
Paragraph 4, each Party hereby acknowledges that any such review,
and the methodologies employed therein, are necessarily
subjective. Accordingly, except as provided in Paragraph 4.B
below, neither Party makes any representation or warranty (whether
express, implied, statutory or otherwise) as to the accuracy,
completeness or sufficiency of any such evaluation, and each Party
disclaims any liability for accuracy of any Prospect evaluation
conducted by the other Party during the term of this
Agreement. Each Party represents and warrants that it is
independently qualified to make a decision whether to invest in any
particular Prospect regardless as to whether it participates in or
conducts an evaluation .
A.
Once CMI determines that a Prospect
merits a detailed geo-technical review with the Selling Party
(“Initial Prospect Review”), it shall promptly notify
Reef and coordinate with Reef’s technical personnel in
scheduling the Initial Prospect Review as soon as
practicable.
B.
In conducting the Initial Prospect
Review, and all subsequent geo-technical evaluations, CMI and Reef
shall make a good faith effort to share data, knowledge, expertise
and work product except as, and to the extent, such sharing may be
restricted or prohibited by third-party Confidentiality Agreements
(“CAs”) and/or Area of Mutual Interest Agreements
(“AMIAs”), to which both CMI and Reef are not similarly
bound. In such cases, Reef will be requested to sign and
return expeditiously the CA or AMIA to CMI before prospect reports
or data will be sent to Reef. In the event that Reef is
unable to participate in an Initial Prospect Review, CMI, as soon
as practicable thereafter, shall make a good faith effort to review
with Reef the Selling Party’s data and interpretations and
CMI’s data and interpretations regarding the Prospect in
question, subject to any restraints posed by such third party CAs
and/or AMIAs.
C.
Following the Initial Prospect
Review or other review, if conducted, and if not, as soon as
practical after Reef’s receipt of the Initial Prospect
Information from CMI, either CMI or Reef may propose pursuing
participation in a Prospect by providing written notice of such
intent to the other Party. The Party receiving such written
notification shall have no less than five (5) business days (or
such shorter response time as is required, in CMI’s opinion,
to prevent loss of an opportunity to acquire an interest in a
Prospect) within which to advise the other Party as to whether it
wishes to pursue the Prospect and if so, its desired percentage of
working interest, whether or not the parties have conducted an
Initial Prospect Review or other review. In the event that
CMI and the Other Participants (as defined in Paragraph 7 below) do
not wish to pursue the Prospect, then Reef shall have the right to
pursue the Prospect for its own account. Upon CMI’s
request, Reef shall advise CMI the status of its pursuit of such
opportunity. In the event that Reef decides to submit a formal
participation offer to the Selling Party, Reef shall submit a copy
thereof to CMI, and CMI shall have twenty-four (24)
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hours within which to elect to
pursue the Prospect jointly with Reef in accordance with this
Agreement. If the participation opportunity originated through a
request by the Selling Party for a turnkey bid from CMI’s
affiliate, Applied Drilling Technology Inc. (“ADTI”),
then CMI shall control the timing and content of offers to
participate in the Prospect.
D.
In the event that both CMI and Reef
desire to pursue participation in a Prospect, they (together with
any Other Participants that may also desire to pursue such
participation) shall jointly develop and agree as to the terms and
conditions of a written participation, offer to the Selling
Party. CMI shall have sole responsibility for direct
negotiations with the Selling Party unless it requests the
assistance of Reef. Reef agrees not to directly contact
the Selling Party regarding the Prospect during the negotiation
process unless otherwise agreed to by CMI. However, CMI shall
keep Reef advised of the progress of ongoing negotiations and shall
solicit Reef’s input and suggestions regarding counter-offers
or subsequent revisions to original offers. Notwithstanding
any provision to the contrary herein, if CMI determines any
situation merits negotiation with a Selling Party sooner than the
response time periods provided for herein in order to avoid loss of
an opportunity to acquire an interest in a Prospect, CMI shall have
the right to do so and shall advise Reef of the progress
thereof.
E.
Subject to the provisions of
Paragraph 4.D. above, Reef shall be an active participant with CMI
in drafting, reviewing, and formalizing Participation Agreements,
Joint Operating Agreements, Farmout Agreements and all other
contracts relating to Reef’s participation in a Prospect
under this Agreement. In the event of disagreement between
CMI and Reef as to contract terms and provisions, however, CMI will
make the final decision as to what is ultimately included in all
agreements, with each Party reserving the right not to participate
in the prospect as outlined in Paragraph 5 below. CMI shall
advise the Selling Party of Reef’s involvement with CMI prior
to the formulation of any such contracts, and Reef shall be a
signatory party to all agreements executed between CMI and Selling
Party. CMI and Reef shall each be entitled to concurrently
receive, directly from the Selling Party, an assignment of any
ownership interest acquired in a Prospect.
F.
In the event that a Selling Party
(other than CMI) does not wish to include Reef as a candidate for
working interest participation, then CMI shall so advise Reef,
advising the reasons given by the Selling Party. If the
concerns raised by the Selling Party cannot be amicably resolved,
CMI shall have the right to pursue the Prospect for its own account
(subject to similar rights of Other Participants) and the Prospect
shall not be covered by this Agreement.
G.
Except for Reef’s obligation
to pay to CMI the Participation Fee as provided in Paragraph 3
above, and for CMI’s obligation at its expense to furnish to
Reef the
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Initial Prospect Information and
other reports and data as provided in this Agreement, each Party
shall bear its own expenses hereunder, including but not limited to
those associated with the evaluation of each Prospect and any
subsequent negotiation of a Participation Agreement or other
agreement with a Selling Party.
5.
Right to
Withdraw : CMI
and Reef acknowledge that, at any time and for any reason during
the process contemplated by Paragraph 4 above (prior to the
execution of a binding participation agreement with a Selling
Party), either Party may elect to discontinue the effort to
participate in a Prospect. In the event either CMI or Reef
elects not to participate in a Prospect, the other party shall be
free to continue to pursue the Prospect for its own account
(subject to similar rights of Other Participants), and the
non-participating Party shall not compete directly or indirectly
against the other Party (or any participating Other Participants)
in pursuing the Prospect for a period of two (2) years from the
date of such election not to participate.
6.
Personnel
: During the term of this
Agreement, CMI will provide and maintain a technically proficient,
multi-disciplined, veteran staff comprising geology, geophysics,
reservoir engineering and land expertise to screen and evaluate
Prospects.
7.
Other
Participants :
To facilitate the review of and participation in Prospects, CMI has
entered into similar North Sea Region joint venture agreements with
certain third parties (“Other Participants”). The
joint venture agreements entered into by CMI with Reef and with the
Other Participants shall be collectively referred to as the
“CMI North Sea Joint Venture”. CMI and Reef agree
that CMI reserves the right to terminate, amend or renew its joint
venture agreement with any of the Other Participants and to enter
into new joint venture agreements with other third parties.
The mention within this Agreement of Other Participants in the CMI
North Sea Joint Venture is solely to provide Reef with notice of
the existence of such Other Participants and their right to be
allocated interests in Prospects under similar joint venture
agreements with CMI. The only relationship created pursuant
to this Agreement, express or implied, is between Reef and
CMI. In no event shall it be construed that this Agreement
has created any relationship, obligation or liability between Reef
and any of the Other Participants. The term “Other
Participants” in this Agreement shall also include CMI
as to its own CMI Interest in the CMI North Sea Joint Venture, the
R