Going early with the farmin is a little surprising. No doubt...

Going early with the farmin is a little surprising. No doubt mngmt have got their reasons, but at what cost to S/H? I was always under the impression it would be after successful commercial flow testing of the Laurel. Perhaps Apache is applying a bit of pressure. Why would they pay top dollar if they could get in early and cheap?

I pulled these figures up which give some indication of what the difference could be.

(From RFC Ambrian Australian Unconventional Oil & Gas P154
28 August 2013)

We have valued Buru’s Laurel Formation acreage by multiplying Buru’s interest in the 4.3m acres that RISC consultants assessed were prospective by a US$100/acre multiple. This multiple reflects the early stage of the appraisal programme. Should the planned five hydro-fractured Laurel Formation wells demonstrate clearly commercial flow rates, we would increase this multiple significantly towards that paid by Chevron in its recent Cooper Basin farm-in (US$900/acre). At US$900/acre, Buru’s Laurel Formation acreage would be worth US$1.9bn (or A$7.16/share).