You might be right AustinNZ, but not sure I agree with the timeframes you suggest. Or at least I don't think they are set in stone.
Announcement - on when we can expect another announcement, based on recent form of keeping the market very well informed, I'd be very surprised if MEO didn't give us an update of some description before signing a farm out deal (unless of course they sign it next week). Might not tell us who they got bids from, but I suspect the market will be dissapointed not to get something and the company will know this.
A recent Oil and Gas Weekly newsletter suggested that we could expect an announcement beteen now and the farm out at the end of September. They speak to Jurgen and have been on the money with the process so far. That's not to say it's certain, but it makes more sense to announce something than to not announce something.
Drill date - I would have thought this depends on who wins the bidding process. For example, if WPL get Atermis, I suspect they will not want to wait until Q3 2010 to drill - particularly with Pluto 3/4 complete. Not sure if a 2009 drill is physically possible (w approvals etc), but if anyone can make it happen you'd expect it would be them (and perhaps a handful of others). One thing's for sure, we won't have to wait for Santos to play around with the rig to get our drill done. The obvious benefits of having a major player with significant resources on board is any drilling will be done as quickly as possible and we won't experience the delays we did with Zeus.
WPL demonstrated its ability to mobilise resoures by giving the Aust government a rig to assist with the current oil spill. A sensible political move, I know, but a clear reflection of what a major can bring.
MEO Price at posting:
62.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
