Falcon Oil and Gas Ltd.

Not wanting to nitpick over wording here but there is a pretty big difference between "chose to" (oilmaninvestor) and "had to" (newtofo) relinquish. What is the actual story behind this, anyone know?

This is what Falcon themselves had to say at the time

Three (EP-76, EP-98 and EP-117) of Falcon Australia’s four Beetaloo Permits were due for renewal at 31 December 2013. As part of the renewal process, Falcon agreed to relinquish approximately 26% of the three Permits which was not considered to be core to the unconventional play in the Beetaloo Basin by Falcon, Origin and Sasol. The renewal of the three Permits was completed on 30 April 2014. Falcon Australia’s fourth permit, EP-99, which was due for renewal at 31 December 2014 was surrendered as it too was not considered to be core to the unconventional play."

http://www.falconoilandgas.com/uploads/pdf/2014-05-02_Beetaloo_Farm_Out.pdf