The last thing you would want in any opportunistic takeover...

The last thing you would want in any opportunistic takeover right now would be scrip!!

In the short-term, from a SP perspective, IMO all Aussie oil & gas companies are going to come under serious pressure. Oil nearly went down 10% on Friday, which is extreme and actions from the Saudis over the weekend are likely to make things even worse.

Obviously we are all keeping an eye on the SP but with $25m in the bank we can look well over the horizon to better times. This amount of money will allow STX to appraise way beyond FID, review Trieste seismic, plan + execute our own seismic in EP469 and EPA82/98 and a bunch of other stuff in northern/southern PB and the Cooper (hello Jaws, how you doing down there!!).

While STX is locked and loaded on detailed appraisal and exploration, in EP469JV, the elephant in the room is what will happen to WGO and this uncertainty (WGO funding) is likely to be an additional short-term anchor on the STX SP. IMO, if the C-virus concerns deepen over the next few weeks I'm not sure that WGO will be able to raise the likely $15m - $20m they will need to keep up with their JV expenditure commitments. If the WGO price drifts down lower than 10c, a CR may need to be priced as low as 5c. That would totally unpalatable for the two main shareholders and a dilution-disaster for the long suffering minority holders. Hopefully for all WGO shareholders there is some white knight out there that can buy them out and save the day. Or maybe as Rexsh has commented, they could roll into a merger with STX. IMO it seems more than likely that something needs to happen soon. Not sure of the JV specifics but usually if you can't meet spend commitments, you are in default and WGO just can't let that happen. It's a great resource and even in crisis times, surely someone will put a proper value on it. The problem is, at the moment, it could be Australia's cheapest ever onshore resource but nobody cares right now as its 2+ years away from production and still needs a bunch of money to appraise and develop to get there. In panic times, cash is king!!

As to white knights, noting my comments on scrip above (no-one will take scrip) I really don't know who could step in. Maybe Woodside, maybe Wesfarmers. Even in tough times they have the balance sheet to spend a bit of coin. But I think the acquisition focus will turn to WGO, not STX as STX has the cash to ride things out and there is no reason for the STX Board to give it away.

IMO it would be a lot easier for say Woodside to get Board approval to buy WGO than get Board/JV approval for FID on Scarborough (or Browse) in these times. Because everything has been turned on its head with global oil/gas demand + prices and fast moving impacts from the C-virus, it's time to expect the unexpected and sit and wait out this volatility if you can. At a certain point in the future, if/when the low cost of the Perth Basin gas is confirmed then it could become the hottest supply resource in the west. But not this week!!

It's still 3-4 months until WE3 which probably feels like years away at the moment but it will come soon enough and hopefully be nicely timed with a market recovery.

A very big good luck to all shareholders.

Cheers

Adaltiora