That man had been a small time oil buisnessman, spending $10 million and sharing the profits to obtain the drilling rights in the neutral zone. He ended up striking it rich overnight.
Experts had surveyed the area before and concluded that there was no oil based on their fault line research. This led all the big companies to give up on exploring there, leaving the opportunity wide open.
Now. Hardy wanted to secure the drilling rights before that man did. The billions of dollars would then be his.
Finally, Hammer agreed to Hardy's proposal.
John would continue to manage domestic production, while Hammer, along with his assistant, would head to Saudi Arabia to negotiate with the Saudi royal family for the drilling rights.