Chalk and Cheese

SPIGOT wonders if anyone else has noticed the main difference between the successful Petroline pipeline application to the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) and the failed iPayipi application to the same August, unnecessary, body. Ipayipi in essence said this: "Give us the licence and then we will parlay that into finance and skills." An amateurish and transparently pathetic approach if ever there was one. Petroline on the other hand, first marshalled the finance, the expertise and everything else -- and only then applied for a licence (the right way to do it). Only now, has Petroline begun seeking customers. They have something to sell, unlike Ipayipi who seem all along to have had nothing except the kind of empty promises that are expressed like this: "Of course, we will use your pipeline when you build it! We are totally in favour of competition! The more pipelines competing with each other, the better, old boy!" Not the same as saying we will back it with our money, of course. Spigot almost feels sorry for the iPayipi consortium -- but not sorry enough to back Mr Nather's demand for compensation for all the money he and his consortium spent on their pretty documentation that was submitted to Nersa. Greedy gambles sometimes win and sometimes lose. It's in the nature of gambling.