They have already gone someway to that philosophy be retaining...

They have already gone someway to that philosophy be retaining 20% of Pavo and what seems to be most of the better exploration options but only retaining 10% of Dorado.

I wouldn’t be averse to them selling the remaining 10% of Dorado (or perhaps better just 5%) and retaining Pavo and the exploration, provided they returned most of the surplus cash to shareholders.

Imho AC did a good job, and exercised generally very good judgement over the years, but perhaps he wasn’t the right one for the next phase, and for the current limbo phase the companies salary expense is too high.

I am on record as wanting to sell in the medium term, and a change of course may facilitate an earlier exit at an acceptable (but unlikely great) price. I”ll probably rush for the door if Phil leaves though. The new regime is a great unknown for me.

Our best hope might be if Santos were actually to sell to someone without the permitting baggage. I can’t see a Woodside merger helping in the short term, unless it led to divestment, more likely to involve a long period of project review.

Good luck to AC, mostly job well done imho,

EL