We've been reading so much information and I had this little niggling, irritating half memory of a comment made by NWE Board and today went looking to find it - it was comment 1.1 in the Rejection Notice by our Chairman:-1.1 The unsolicited Offer does not appropriately value Norwest’s Perth Basin assets and has been opportunistically timed prior to the full extent of the Lockyer discovery becoming known The drilling of the Lockyer Deep-1 well in September 2021, and subsequent well testing operations, confirmed a significant Permian gas/condensate discovery with exceptional well deliverability, reservoir quality and gas composition across a 25-metre interval of the Kingia Sandstone reservoir, with the highest flow rate achieved in the Perth Basin Permian gas play to date and one of the highest rates seen anywhere onshore Australia.
MinRes, being the parent entity of theoperator of the project, has a unique and detailed insight into the potentialof the Lockyer gas/condensate discoverywhich has the potential to be one of Australia’s largest onshore gas fields.
Your Directors believe that the Offer by MinRes has been opportunistically timed prior to commencement of a high-impact two well drilling campaign, and while a 3D seismic survey is in progress, for which the results will not become available for some time. The drilling program aims to confirm the presence of gas across the greater Lockyer structure (which has the potential to cover an area of more than 100 km2), and to inform resource definition as well as future development planning. Success during this program has the potential to be transformative for both the ultimate size of the Lockyer resource, and for Shareholders. Furthermore, your Directors believe that Norwest’s Perth Basin exploration permits have significant follow-on exploration potential, with only one of eight defined Permian leads within Norwest’s portfolio having been tested so far. Of particular focus for Norwest is Lead E which your Directors believe has the potential to be of a similar scale to Lockyer. Importantly, a number of these leads were upgraded by the 2022 Ringneck 2D seismic survey, with the current Rococo 3D seismic survey expected to provide an improved sub-surface view of the greater Lockyer structure and adjacent leads for future exploration drilling. If you accept the Offer, you will significantly dilute your exposure to Norwest’s Perth Basin portfolio and the potential future success from Norwest's assets.
It is the red writing that has been niggling me, how much do the parent entity of the operator, have as a "unique & detailed insight" into the potential of the Lockyer Gas discover - obviously enough to make an agressive attack on us - pulling out all the stops, adverts etc. to achieve 100% ownership - will not happen CE - show your hand - we are calling your bluff on this massive risk we are about to take in drilling etc.
Holding and buying
Greenleaf
