This is a very good question, which has been exercising my mind!...

This is a very good question, which has been exercising my mind! The two "external" events are the WDS-STO merger and the WA government's relaxing of the EPA laws in that state to more easily enable energy projects to go ahead. Both events are likely to play out by March 2024.

The merger is being reported in the press for its "gas synergy" but WDS is a big oil producer that spent $600m drilling 2-3 years ago and came up with dust, so their reserves must surely be dwindling by now. STO doesn't want to develop Dorado because of their strategic commitment to not over-reaching on capex and the Barossa project has first dibs on that capex money.

If the mergers can somehow shift the Dorado capex load onto WDS, the FID is off and running and this will accordingly be reflected in our SP, without need for a takeover bid.

But these oil companies are predators! Why help us inflate our SP when they could starve us into submission and then buy our share for a song? This is where the new Board is really going to be needed to come to our rescue. They are more passive (than active) investors? Do they care about a long term, oil-producing, SP of $2 in 2026 if they can double their money by selling at 40 cents in the space of 3 months and move on to something else? The fact is that any predators will be assisted by many LTSH bailing out at 50c to $1 given how long this stock has been dwelling in the cellar.

Does anyone know enough about how FAR was treated a few years ago to be able to share any insights on how they got shafted?