Couple of questions that I have from this announcement;
1. Appears only 1 appraisal well now being drilled at the Mereenie Stairway, what impact does this have on the most likely best estimate (Net) figure of 73PJ from this location? Can we expect only half this now, or was WM26 always the larger contributor? What were the prospects for WM25, and will it be commercial to spend additional rig mobilization costs to drill it?
2. This latest announcement suggests the plant upgrade capital/capacity was only recently discovered as requiring $12m however the Plant Upgrade has been noted in past announcements as follows:
- Slide 9 (26Sep2017 Ann) : “Brown Field Development with 70TJ/day existing plant with NGP having 60TJ/day capacity available in late 2018” (right below the statement a “fully funded 4 hole appraisal” was ready for first half 2018
- Slide 9 (07Dec2017 Ann) : “Processing plant complete – needs to be de-mothballed” (with comment below “aiming to fill NGP by time it is operational”)
- Slide 5 (07Feb2018 Ann) noted that the Plant Upgrade “FEED should be completed in March with FID (Final Investment Decision) in April subject to ACCC decision”.
So based on the above what impact did the delay in timing of the ACCC decision make to the funding required for the plant upgrade? The FID was not due until April but has been now made so aren’t we ahead of schedule? Also since the long lead items were already ordered than early funding must have been agreed and established in Jan? How much of the $10m earmarked in the Rights Issue for Mereenie drilling is now being used for drilling and how much used for the plant upgrade?
Don’t want to sound negative about what is perhaps (?) in our best interest but I really wish the Capex story would be more consistent. While I appreciate RC’s many strengths, his smoke & mirrors with capital requirements in the past led us right into the SoA debacle.
If I have misunderstood anything or someone can answer the above questions to make it clearer it would be appreciated…
CTP Price at posting:
12.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
