Laz I see your para 2 as being the key I suspect the land...

Laz

I see your para 2 as being the key

I suspect the land acquisitions were a dual safety play for the reasons you have given and I genuinely believe to ensure this is NOT a binary play. I think they knew what was there before they stumped up the cash.

The 1.1billion conventional set of prospects still remains far higher than the D& M figure of just over 400mb potential for the unconventional. I cannot see any oiler just passing up this potential conventional prospect, far cheaper to exploit than the unconventional just because the latter has a bad hair day.

As for Unconventional well success and failure rate., it seems that failure at the first attempt is highly more than likely, yet a re engineered test would be more than likely successful.

Having crawled from Afren wreckage, wiped out at churchill and oxus plus GEC Marconi, I am well over any emotions

Just a glass half full chap, perhaps change my board name to Jonah

Just my two cents worth, I could be doubly wrong