Lets look at a hypothesis for a Farm-in?, page-50

Yes, I see your point: but you can't always blame the shopper who has a shopping trolley that doesn't travel in a true and straight line. Sometimes the wheels are uneven - and to extend that analogy, it is up to Management to steer the trolley despite these circumstances.

But I think to assume that Management are totally asleep at the wheel is the other extreme of thinking; which I also do not subscribe to.

The environment sucks. Oil price soft and sloppy. Capital (and farmin partners) hard to come by. And onshore O&G outlook uncertain. But the positives are that MIN have gone "all in" by taking both debt and equity interest (they are hardly likely to refinance their debt through capital raising which would be directly to their detriment); that EGO are producing (albeit with a few water issues, none of which cannot be resolved, despite costs); and that tenements held by EGO border with proven fields which are now the focus of attention by other explorers in the region. Market cap is only $15 million (EV circa $28-30mm), which makes Empire a far better target now that it did previously.