Interesting. It will take quite a bit of investment to push...

Interesting. It will take quite a bit of investment to push Mereenie back to 40 TJ/d, never mind holding it there for 6 years against natural field decline.

From memory it's only capable of about 25 TJ/d and declining fairly quickly. Should be very profitable if it happens as expected, in this gas market, but committing to sell 40 TJ before knowing if you can actually do it is a bit of a risk, if a well underperforms expectations you have to drill another regardless of cost to meet the contract.

On the flip side locking in a buyer at this time of energy uncertainty is a pretty astute move, users will be pretty keen to make a deal at a good price to the JV. And the gas is there in the Pacoota at Mereenie, it's not like the failed Stairway laterals which weren't proved up. The risk is just if they don't flow as much as anticipated and the JV needs to drill more wells and earlier than expected to meet contract flow which could blow out costs.

All in all I'm supportive, for all the criticism LD has got over exploration and appraisal I'm happy with how the company is managing its producing assets. His management style is well suited to this side of the business IMO.