icn & bpt settle out of court, page-2

goodaye Mav
i think this outcome is even better than original f/in agreement.
am not quite sure of full effect wrt PEL218 though.

note there is no equity injection from Beach.

But big thing for me, is stipulation that Beach must drill a HORIZONTAL well in ATP855 in one of the REM structures.

obviously they both want to see what the shales flow from horizontal well, as the vertical wells supposedly only flow at a fraction of that of horizontal wells.

also, ICN is free-carried up to $15m of cost of that well.

Also no indication of timing of well?

Beach as Operator of shale.
ICN operator of CSG in both permits?

have not time to compare with original agreement yet.

But must be good thing, as Beach is the demonstrated expert so far on shale in Aust.

IMHO this agreement augurs well for the combined development of shale gas in C/B.
I still think a merger of the INTERESTS of both shale gas assets of BPT and ICN will eventuate (if both coys survive).

If ICN throw in their CHinese GSA, then its game on.
Beach are already looking at Port Bonython for LNG export.

Without a doubt, these shale gas deposits will be developed at a far quicker rate than the CSG deposits in QLD !!!!

Thats the big kicker imho !

cheers