I think I've gone MAD., page-31

Agree with your comments carpenter1239.
Reading some of the bigger E&P company reports, they seem to be drilling just what they need to in order to keep the HBP contracts in place. In fact one article suggested production has increased in some presently uneconomic areas purely to keep the leases alive. It makes sense for these companies to drill & keep the leases alive even if uneconomic especially after paying the initial contract signing bonus. In sought after areas this bonus can go much higher than I mentioned in my last post.

Whilst many bigger companies can afford to do this, there are also many that are too leveraged to drill on all their leases to keep them alive. This is where MAD can pick up some (hopefully) bargains as these leases come up to expiry. Better these companies sell their leases before they expire, than let them expire worthless after paying the bonus. Alternatively if they do expire, with $40 oil prices, the land owners are hardly in a strong bargaining position.