There is food for thought there,NK. In fact I have already gone down that road with AMU (when I knew diddly squat about gas stocks) for that is the stock I got OUT of to buy Mae !! They are as alike as chalk and cheese(or are they?),and that could be what makes the comparison such a good one. AMU has good cash flows but are so short of good drilling prospects that they now have to farm into other companys prospects,which they seem to want to do as the drillbit starts to scratch the surface. They pay a high entry price to the game with this practice,but they do seem to be well connected with their US partners and their "regular" operator of most of their recent wells has a % interest in their wells also so AMUs success is his success also. They have had a mixed bag of success lately. They have 5% of this and 33% of that and 22% of this and 8% of that etc.etc. and arent the operator in control in most instances-even less so recently. Their situation is a lot more stable than Maes,and a lot safer ,but if they strike the big one that could lead on to a rerating of stock they will struggle to get traction with minority ownership. Mae ,on the other hand, owns a good field and if they can get the machine set up and fine tuned and cranked up they own the works so a big payday is probable (but will be well earned by the time it arrives,and this,in reality,was always going to be the case). You have hit the nail on the head though- I have confidence that AMU are paying their dues to the locals (who know where the gas is) but Mae seem to have always been the out-of towners who,if they dont play the game right ,could get zonked by the locals. You pays your money but if Mae can get the machine (CC) cranked up then its a gem ,geography,pipelines,terrain,crappy climate included and will reward holders far in excess of AMUs capacity to do so. It would be nice to spread the Mae risk into several stocks of similar ilk,but they are as scarce as hens teeth (and Ive sure as hell looked for a Mae lookalike - they just dont exist).
MAE Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
