I agree Santos would not pay up until production if this was unkown territory, but it isn't . They have been producing there since 1970 and understand the geology and issues with extraction very well . For all the negative views regarding cost of oil recovery here, Santos still claim on their website that one barrel of oil only costs them Aus $22 to find and develop . Obviously they own plenty of the necessary equipment and infrastructure, but to get a current $68 margin per barrel from a so called problematic geology is brilliant .
Based on their figures I think it conservative to assume that INP could achieve a $48 margin, considerng they have less of what the big fish own .
It may not happen, but for a company like Santos (that has been criticised by analysts in the past for not expanding reserves), an opportunity to merge with a low scrip junior who has done the risk taking exploration and discovery in a geology that Santos bid on, understand, and already have infrastructure around will be hard to resist .
INP Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
