Good post on the machinations within the M&A market in the energy sector.
I would posit that the takeover elephant in the room in the North Perth Basin is Beach maybe acting with Mitsui.
The prospect maps from Beach 28 September 2021 AGM presentation make it clear, as Seahunt has mentioned, that the North Perth Basin is a key growth area for Beach.
Strike presented a most informative map showing the prospects the respective players around Strike at the 8 September 2021, Perth Good Oil Conference. They were possibly quite prescient saying it is 'the centre of attention'!!!
The prospect that will trigger IMHO a takeover of Strike by Beach is Strikes South Erregulla prospect which extends into the Beach/Mitsui permit as Trigg verified according to Strike By the Beach 3D - see below.
Based on the cross section presented by Beach, Trigg is a large tilted faulted block -see below
Strike's seismic image and interpretation in their presentation clearly shows this and also alludes to the possibility of a large gas column as proposed for the Lockyer Deep gas discovery.
If South Erregulla when drilled by Strike is a Permian Kingia gas discovery and Trigg when drilled by Beach/Mitsui is also one, my view is that unitisation of the South Erregulla/Trigg gas field for production will be required.
Beach/Mitsui to avoid this hassle of a unitisation production agreement with differing parties interests and agendas, just has to takeover Strike.
This is achievable imho as Strike has a lot of disgruntled shareholders, I would suggest, as a result of the West Erregulla independent reserve report not supporting Strikes previously speculated one tcf. This investor disappointment has been reflected in the Strike share price.
Beach/Mitsui could after taking over Strike, then leave Warrego to hang out to dry over the timing of the start of gas production at West Erregulla and then takeover Warrego.
You could speculate that Beach/Mitsui would then have more gas to feed into the Waitsia-NW Shelf plant from the permits they might take over.
From the Norwest shareholders point of view, Minres is the logical party to take over Norwest following a strong gas flow at Lockyer Deep.
Minres might then even have a go at Strike and Warrego, but very strong competitors in Beach/Mitsui and Minres is new to the Energy game. Minres have stated that only want their gas for power for their mines and process plants.
This is all speculation on my part, but I can see Beach as the aggressive kingmaker in the North Perth basin.
DYOR
