status of artemis farminee, page-8

I take another tack on the farminee process ANZ.

You mentioned the RDI farmin and we all know the consequences of the Zeus duster - capitulation to the SP. I am sure management will remember this and, although the deal looked good on paper, I think it was pretty weak and too easy for RDI to leave MEO high and dry. Apart from the one drill in Zeus there wasn't any other binding agreement really.

The main get out clause was a positive RDI float in China and even though nobody could foresee the GFC, persay, it was on the cards. Two more drills in Zeus were also dependent on a successful first drill. In essence Mr Palmer was only risking a wildcat in Zeus with the option of walking away. It was a bad experience for all concerned.

Having this scenario in recent memory I think the delay has not been because of the potential farminee but, I am hopeful, the management of MEO getting it right this time. If there was more than one interested party, as Jurgen seemed to indicate, then MEO should be in the driving seat.

Being a junior company MEO have more to lose than a big company in this deal. Management know that if they get this wrong there may be an irrecoverable backlash by shareholders. In a previous post I talked about the foundations of a company. One of those was a sound and trusted management team. It will be interesting to see if management are in the same league with the big boys.

Alternatively, if it is a smaller partner, it will be interesting to see if MEO can take authority and broker a more binding deal that has less holes than the RDI deal (or petrofac come to think of it).

In my opinion, for what it is worth, it is MEO calling the shots, and creating the delays, no matter how much it is a concern to those of us with less patience.

As far as the SP - when there are a lot of 'mums and dads' involved they are always fair game for the DTs/swingers/shorters etc. It is not just with MEO but many, many small caps. Usually successful traders are very good at what they do. The top 15% turn over the rest of us on a regular basis.

With a positive announcement and continued positive outside influences the SP should take care of itself:)