Thought I'd try and put myself in managements shoes to see...

Thought I'd try and put myself in managements shoes to see things from their perspective. (assuming the plan is to sell dolly)

#1 priority, dress up dolly, do whatever is needed to get the best flow rates hence best reserve. This needs to be done this Summer (northern) as the US economy/political environment is uncertain, gas prices are at all time highs & of course our oppies expire next June!

Helper is a secondary priority, the reserve wont increase much for these wells despite the good results from the latest well.
(though maybe they have done some more drilling here using up some of that unaccounted capex - we didn't even know they were drilling the last well till after the results were released)

Once we have done the last capital raising (last year) the sp does not matter. No need to dress up reports for shareholders or brokers, just report the minimum legal requirements keeping in mind #1 priority. Keep our bigger shareholders on side privately in case we need to fend off a hostile bid, but the small shareholders are of no significance - they'll have sold by years end anyway. When the new IRR is a month or so away, start a series of releases to have a strong sp just prior to selling Dolly.

Don't release too much in the way of flows etc until on the final straight. we need this good news to bolster the sp closer to sale date & deter any premature hostile bids.
( as L2 or DT pointed out, mae will have a fair idea as to the outcome of the IRR, and I presume if too much info is released to the market other predators would be able to do the same. also if oil & gas assets are in big demand in the US, we don't want dolly too well dressed till we're ready)

Oklahoma will be sold prior to selling dolly. We have cf tax losses to offset the capital gain & will get a better price separately. Unfortunately can't do the same with Helper as the tax losses wont cover this asset sale.

Spare no expense to get to priority #1. Buy as many dewatering pumps etc as needed to get the wells stable. (maybe this explains some of last Qs capex).

Of course if things were not going to plan (apart from delays) I'd be very shareholder friendly because I'll need a good sp to get the best possible capital raising - but that's the last thing I'd want as it dilutes my options.