" I know your donkey deep " I wouldn't say that boysy,what I...

" I know your donkey deep "

I wouldn't say that boysy,what I will say though, if its all lost,my world wont end in trying to blame others for my investment strategy.
But to the heart of your question,maybe it needed the permit to be bought under the control of one entity for the prize to be seen?
On the tdo thread I asked how much to drill a well in the basin,it seems circa $40 million will do the job.

Raider

http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas...lf_Oil_Ups_Stake_in_VicP47_in_Gippsland_Basin

But with many searching for a solution to a looming gas crisis, Exxon has given a rare insight into the extent of its reserves.
The energy giant has revealed that the seven trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas it has long said it believes remains in its leases in Bass Strait is not a reserve or resource figure. In fact, some of it has not yet been discovered. And the gas is expected to be high in contaminants and expensive to extract.
"This figure includes gas remaining in our developed fields, it includes the (under-construction) Kipper-Tuna-Turrum project, which will deliver about 1.6tcf of gas, but a large part of it is either undeveloped or undiscovered," Exxon's manager of Australian public and government affairs, Chris Welberry, told The Australian.
Exxon says gas production, which has largely been underwritten by more-valuable oil extraction, has reached a total of 8tcf over the past 40 years.
The 7tcf estimate for remaining gas has been fairly constant for Exxon.
In 2006, when the total production was only up to 5tcf, Exxon said it had 7tcf remaining, which indicates an extra 3tcf of gas has been located in the past seven years, or is now seen as economic. The gas said to be remaining is substantial. It could feed current combined demand from Victoria, NSW and South Australia for about 13 years or supply the Gippsland joint venture's Longford gas plant for 34 years at current demand levels.
But Exxon stresses this gas is not sitting in big fields ready to be rapidly extracted to supply the east coast.
According to Exxon, it is probably held in small fields and is likely to be high in contaminants such as carbon dioxide and, potentially, mercury, which has been found in the Kipper field it is now developing.
It is also unlikely to come with the oil that previously underwrote development of its big early gasfields such as Barracouta, Snapper and Marlin.
"Much of this undeveloped and undiscovered gas is either in, or expected to be in, smaller and deeper fields with higher carbon dioxide, less liquids and increasing exploration risk," Mr Welberry said. "Consequently, it will likely be costly to develop."
The potential costs of Bass Strait gas developments have been highlighted by the current expansion of Kipper Tuna Turrum, where the budget has blown out by more than $1.3 billion to $5.5bn. The cost includes a $1.1bn onshore plant approved last year to strip out the high levels of carbon dioxide from the gas.
The Victorian government's Gas Market Taskforce report, released last month, said that without the benefits of higher-value oil in the Kipper field, the long-term production cost of gas there is $9.50 per gigajoule.
This is up from costs of about $2 per gigajoule in other Bass Strait fields operated by Exxon and compares to traditional east coast gas prices of between $3 and $4 a gigajoule.

http://www.metgasco.com.au/industry-news/picture-murky-new-bass-strait-gas

VIC/P47 is a known field "reasonably close" to infrastructure a step out well is "reasonably cheap",therefore IMHO attractive in light of the above article,just speculation on my part.

Raider