m0ngy, while I respect your thoughts, once again I can’t help thinking you have too much negativity towards RC. The NEGI is basically his baby, as pointed out last month in the AFR article by Matthew Stevens (Oct 12);
“From the moment the man who made a motza for Queensland Gas shareholders arrived at Central in 2012, he has been pushing the cause of an NT gas pipeline. But what looked sensible to Cottee did not always look so clever to others. Cottee, along with the NT's resilient chief minister Adam Giles, have claims on paternity (of the NEGI). The business Cottee inherited in a painful boardroom coup commanded a wealth of central Australian gas potential. But that gas was stranded. The only pipeline went directly north. But the domestic requirements of Darwin's offshore gas development meant the market for inland gas had disappeared. So, from day one, Cottee admitted that his Central success would be shaped by whether or not someone could be convinced to link his gas to east coast markets.”
Without RC working it, most would appreciate that NEGI would not be even discussed these days, let alone an idea which is perhaps a week away from being turned into a real NT Gov commitment. I think most shareholders (except the bitter crew over on TS) appreciate also that without the gas strategy, and with the current global oil price, all SH’s would have been extremely diluted or non-existent by now. So in my opinion, we either line up behind RC and trust him to take care of us, or sell out and buy some other speculative stock.
Your suggestion that RC is “not confident” about NEGI at this stage makes little sense; for a man who is very concerned about his legacy, today’s AFR article more than puts it on the line. The man obviously has an intimate knowledge of the industry and the East Coast gas needs, has proven experience in working deals and the politics around them, and has surprised us on the upside both with Magellan and Mereenie. If he didn’t think we needed the money ASAP I have no doubt he would have delayed the CR. But to second guess the person who has got us this far, with a market-building piece of infrastructure almost ready to go ahead, is difficult to fathom.
I try not to look with rose tinted glasses, and being critical of decisions is healthy, but let’s not be overly negative before we know the full story…
Expand
