First, a caveat -- I do not expect this to go to arbitration. This deal will get done, perhaps not as soon as I/we would like, but for the sake of discussion:

IMO, if the deal falls through, the attempt at the JV has no adverse effect on potential arbitration and could be used to bolster KRY's argument that it did all it could. KRY has already done the basic work to get an arbitration started and I would think it could be filed quickly, although the whole financing thing is another issue.

The situation with arbitration is a little more complex if the JV deal goes through and then for some reason the JV goes to arbitration. (I find this extremely unlikely with the Chinese involvement.) If the MOC is simply transferred to the new entity, then arbitration procedure would depend on the jurisdiction of the JV, but most likely there would still be access to arbitration. At this point, however, without knowing how things unfold this is highly speculative thought. I would guess that it would require a new arbitration demand by the JV and time for Venezuela to cure the problem. I find this possibility so remote that it doesn't merit our concern on the board, although I would expect that the JV agreement has addressed even remote issues like this one, which is why the drafting took longer than anticipated.