Lilac,I have not been on HC much this week, so don't read...

Lilac,

I have not been on HC much this week, so don't read anything into my absence. I have been back-reading to catch up on what is being said.

I think Stumpy's post is perhaps the most interesting post I have read recently. All 3 larger independents all with stakes been made on them... more large players who need the gas than free gas to go around...

ESG, with its deal with Santos, lifted their share price and put a floor under the price. Now they are either committed to this deal, OR, they know of other interested parties. In this regard, ESG are no different to BOW's 'deal' with Arrow. A long time ago, I suggested that ESG have not sat around for the last 2 years, waiting for the coup de grace from Santos. Well, any other parties that have quietly been through ESG's data room have only a few weeks to act, or forever hold their peace.

I have copped a lot of flak for suggesting that I will vote YES. Having said that, I am extremely critical of what the company has said and not said in statements to the ASX about reserves.

But ESG have got a deal they can live with. Further reserves progress will come via LNG markets. So it makes sense for ESG to go up the foodchain. If others need the gas and are prepared to intervene and pay more, they will. But the deal, as is, IMO, is at a fair metric. Certainly very fair compared with other deals. We will only get extra money if we can get other parties to act, or if we can siginificantly increase our reserves.

IF ESG have other known parties, they will have to act and we will have an auction situation. If not, then ESG will struggle to make commercial progress separate from Santos.

So, now we just wait and see who ESG sneakily had through their data room...

Yaq (still here, but everything has been said many times already)