west australian Saturday, page-6

BUSINESSENERGY
Wehr’s bullish Dorado disclosure cuts through the bull

Sean SmithThe West Australian
Saturday, 21 July 2018 10:42AMSean Smith

Quadrant’s Fred Wehr revealed the oil discovery at this week’s Petroleum Club of WA event.Picture: Tom Rovis-Hermann
bullish disclosure of the Dorado oil find was all the more remarkable because of his public display of excitement.

Not for him the often dry, careful technical language shrouding early announcements of discoveries by big oil and gas companies that seem to have taken an increasingly conservative approach to public comment.



Wehr, an American who has been scouring WA waters for oil and gas for eight years, was thankfully able to tell it as he saw it.

And he did so by displaying a bit of passion for his industry. It’s an underrated quality not displayed often enough by management in big business.

The Dorado discovery, Wehr told the Petroleum Club of WA on Tuesday night, was “a big deal”.


It described the discovery, in the Bedout Basin off Port Hedland, as significant.Picture: Carnarvon Petroleum
“It’s just staggering what we’ve got here,” he said. “I can’t talk (size) but this is enormously material. I'll tell you that the low case is solidly commercial, the mid-case is awesome and the upside is staggering.

“We are talking about something that is really a game changer, certainly for Quadrant, definitely for Carnarvon, but potentially for the industry as well.

“I hope I’m not overstating this or overselling it, but this is something I’ve never seen in a 35-year career.”

It helped that he was addressing a like-minded audience and that Quadrant, as an unlisted company, is not subject to the same disclosure rules as its listed partner in Dorado, Carnarvon Petroleum.

For a start, the Australian Securities Exchange would probably have taken issue with the “solidly commercial” claim given its high thresholds for establishing the viability of resources projects.

It would have been difficult for Carnarvon to have been as open on Dorado as Wehr without getting a rap across the knuckles from the ASX.

Carnarvon’s own Dorado statement, issued the morning after Wehr’s address, was naturally more tempered.

He did so by displaying a bit of passion for his industry. It’s an underrated quality not displayed often enough by management in big business.
It described the discovery, in the Bedout Basin off Port Hedland, as significant but there were no references to its commerciality.

Not that it matters.

Wehr has sold the discovery better than Carnarvon could ever have, given the shackles of the ASX disclosure regulations.

Carnarvon is delighted with the Wehr affect and the subsequent publicity. Its shares doubled to 34¢ after emerging from a trading halt ahead of its Dorado announcement.

Of course, there is still a way to go.

Dorado will have to proven up for investors to the satisfaction of industry standards and the ASX.

Maybe then, the Petroleum Club can invite Wehr back for an update. But they may need a bigger venue.

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