11.   In January, the four partners agreed in principle to transfer factories and other assets to the new company to give the new Airbus greater control over its costs.

12.   It is important to let go and cede control of a job once one partner agrees to do it.

13.   Johnson said in a telephone interview on Friday that the partners had agreed to his appointment so that outside leadership could direct the company.

14.   Most significantly, the partners must agree on how to split their profits.

15.   Others, however, said that the three partners have already agreed on how their alliance will be managed.

16.   That makes economic development difficult, and the alliance partners agreed that with conventional contracts the project would have cost so much as to make it uneconomic to develop.

17.   The broader issue, though, is whether an alliance whose partners do not agree on the threat itself will long have a persuasive reason for being.

18.   The company said no partners have yet agreed to join in the project, and no financing has been obtained.

19.   The firm is already profitable, Gonzales said, though the partners have agreed not to disclose how much they will pay Merrill Lynch.

20.   The Heidrun project was recently delayed when Norway got the partners to agree to build a methanol plant that will use gas from the field.