This what the press have to say this morning. Enjoy boys: QUEENSLAND'S richest man, Clive Palmer, has taken one of the largest private punts ever witnessed in the Australian oil and gas industry.
The billionaire has forked out $US31.25 million ($47 million) on a oil and gas explorer and processor, gambling that a single discovery well will pay huge dividends.
In between funding the LNP and buying Gold Coast United soccer team, Mr Palmer has emerged as a significant 5.27 per cent investor in Melbourne-based MEO Australia.
That investment cost his local private company Mineralogy Pty Ltd $12 million, but it is MEO's latest well that has attracted the bulk of Mr Palmer's personal loot.
MEO is scheduled to spud its Zeus-1 gas exploration well in Western Australia's Carnarvon Basin either today or tomorrow.
Mr Palmer - through his other personal company, Resource Development International - has coughed up $US31.25 million to fund 80 per cent of the drilling.
The balance of the funding has been secured by MEO.
"This is the largest single personal investment I have ever seen in Australian corporate history," veteran Melbourne-based mining entrepreneur John Byrne said yesterday.
Mr Byrne has a reason to be enthusiastic.
His London-listed Cambrian Oil & Gas Plc had 21 per cent of MEO but has been selling down and now holds just more than 14 per cent.
"In all my years in the market, I cannot recall one individual taking a $US31 million punt on one well," said Mr Byrne, who has extensive mining and cattle interests, including in Queensland.
"It makes the late Kerry Packer look like a small punter."
Analysts give Mr Palmer a fair chance of collecting on his bet.
They said that years ago, in the old wildcat days, a well had about a 20-to-one chance of delivering black gold.
"Today, with 3D seismic surveys, that chance has been reduced to about a 50 per cent change," Mr Byrne said.
"So he does have a chance of it coming in."
Mr Palmer, ranked 21st in BRW magazine's annual rich list with a fortune of $1.5 billion, made his money in iron ore and property but clearly believes in the risk - and is coughing up his $US31 million to prove it.
MEO has tracked a roller-coaster path over the past year, the share price touching a high of $1.61 in January last year before tumbling to a low of 11c.
MEO closed on Friday up 12.7 per cent at 31c.
MEO Price at posting:
31.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
