While I think that our case is far less complex than Conoco and that we had a clear contract with far less complexity on issues of taxes and royalties, the Conoco decision is very interesting to me because the Netherlands and Canadian BITs with Venezuela have very similar language about swift and fair compensation at the time of expropraition.

I think it indisputable that Venezuela didn't deal with us in good faith either, so we too could have a strong argument for using the gold price at the time of the award. I'd just like to see it come back up to the $1800+ level by the time of the award just in case. :)

I also think that jurisdiction and liability are a foregone conclusion; the only real issue is making it to the finish line without further dilution by good old Bob "I can always get financing" Fung.