STO had an option to carry CTP for $3M but that was before the...

STO had an option to carry CTP for $3M but that was before the Peak farmin. If STO didn't take the option then CTP's equity in Dukas went from 30% to 45%. They evidently didn't take the option as part of the farmin deal so CTP's equity went to 45% and then farmed down to Peak back to 35%. STO's equity went from 70% down to 55% since they didn't take the option, then down to 30% once Peak farmed in.

This creates an unusual situation where the operator (STO) actually has the smallest interest in the permit out of all the JV participants.

So CTP lost the $3M carry but got a roughly $10M carry on the other two wells and still managed to increase their interest in Dukas from 30 to 35%. Realistically this is probably a better result for CTP as going into an expensive, high risk well like Dukas at 45% funding requirement is not something a junior wants to be doing.

Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome after holding CTP so long but I am pretty excited about this helium campaign. They will have to fund ~$5M for Dukas but it looks like it will be the last well drilled in the campaign, which means any success in the first two wells should make raising the money easier. And Jacko Bore 2 in particular looks like a very promising well, it is a lateral into an already confirmed gas discovery that flowed 530 Mscfd from a vertical.

Range is finally starting to interest me too. I have said previously that IMO CTP has mismanaged the appraisal of this resource but the fact they are finally starting to get some decent gas out of a very poorly-optimised pilot is actually a testament to the fact the reservoir itself isn't too bad. They are right with their comparison to STO's Arcadia pilot, which initially STO tried to appraise in the same way as CTP, with single-well pilots that were pumped off too quickly (this was nearly 15 years ago now so STO had an excuse, the knowledge base of how to appraise Qld CSG wasn't there yet). CTP should have learned from STO and designed a pilot with properly shielded wells, which is what STO eventually did at Arcadia and had MUCH better results, and now as CTP point out Arcadia is a major field.

And with PV12 performing well, more work to lift Mereenie coming up and high gas prices continuing I'm actually more positive about CTP than I've been in a while. Just need to generate some buzz for the helium story in the leadup to the spud of Jacko Bore.