agentm, I'm not one for conspiracy theories, particularly...

agentm, I'm not one for conspiracy theories, particularly several competitors ganging up on TXN. There is no advantage in it for them. They aren't going to form a partnership to buy TXN, so no deliberate attack here.

More likely, the surrounding businesses are just drilling to produce, and some of those wells trigger lease commitments. Also, TXN went into passive mode for most of 2012 during EFS sale negotiations while, as we now know, the time clock ticked on its leases. So, to a large extent, TXN's mgt/board brought this on themselves without advising shareholders of the lease deadlines.

That said, one or more competitors might be looking one more time at TXN's value and deciding whether to bid up the offer.

As for SEA's value, I would rather own a stock where 3P is significantly undervalued than fully valued because these things regress to the mean eventually if no hidden problems. For example, this time last year Strachan had a nice diagram showing EV/2P of most OZ oilers. Near the bottom (cheaper) of the list was...MAD.