bignote...you need to read Mr Freemans answers more carefully. I asked your question 2 and he gave a reply a few posts back.
As for operators knowing, you assume (I expect) that oil flowed to the surface. As I can understand it did not. The oil shows were from the cores which would have been studied onsite in (modest) lab conditions.
I am not sure if you get the satellite channel Discovery in Aus but there was a very interesting series (called Oil Strike) that showed actual drilling rigs and their actions over a 5 week period in the US. The series was extremely informative.
Basically it showed how cores and sands can determine the level of success of a drill. In one example the rig crew had given up on the well gone home and around 2 hours later oil flowed to the surface unexpected.
My point is that the operator must be 100% certain that when they annouce a 'find' they must have fair evidence to suggest as such to the market. This can take time.
Perhaps the above scenario occured at the Acosta well.
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