It makes absolute sense. Two main reasonscE1 sold stock at 20c....

It makes absolute sense. Two main reasons

cE1 sold stock at 20c. so buy back sub 20c. Profiting off weak sellers for benefit of all current shareholders.

Second, CE1 only raised because it wanted to avoid hedging on the bunch of new wells coming online in March. Other than this there's no value created by the raise. Now net cash is building it should be cancelling the shares.

Dividends attract tax because no franking credits. I prefer both, but buyback is a no brainer at the very least.

Communicate value to market
and
create shareholder value

In fact I think you will see most of the listed Canadian producers begin buybacks as soon as they go debt free like us.

Market valuations don't reward growth. So don't chase it. If it was a high PE environment then you would, but at 2-3x PE across the board it's all going to buybacks.