Basic problem is NEN bit off more than they could chew being a smallish company with not one, but two high impact / high cost wells being drilled virtually simultaneously.
Everyone looked at the possible upside of one, if not two, major discoveries, but chose to almost ignore the horrendous time over-runs in the drilling programs, especially in Block 105. When the time over-runs were brought up, they were too often dismissed with arguments like the delays are weather related (typhoons and currents) or mechanical in nature (BOP troubles), and as such, the daily charges should be, at the very least, greatly reduced.
Now all of a sudden, these over-runs are front and centre of everyone's attention, and not being dismissed quite so readily.
Maybe now the 'concern' pendulum has swung has swung too far in the other direction....problem is no one (including NEN it seems) really knows as yet. Time will tell.
NEN Price at posting:
4.1¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held