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The speculation comes amid continuing debate in the market whether the Santos board was justified in spurning Harbour, with some investors regarding the offer price as full.

But FACTS Global Energy chairman Fereidun Fesharaki backed the Santos board and the "really strong" executive team. He suggested the ultimate value of Santos could be higher given the potential to boost output at the GLNG export plant in Gladstone, where capacity is lying almost half idle because of a lack of economic gas supply.
"If they can access some gas they can get huge upside [from GLNG]," Dr Fesharaki said. "They have a whole train they are not using. It's like these guys have an eight-cylinder engine but they are only running on four cylinders."
The talks about Quadrant, which is also the country's fourth-biggest oil producer, adds to the flurry of acquisition interest around Australian oil and gas this year, which has included AWE, Sino Gas & Energy and now APA Group as local targets, as well as Santos.
The strengthening oil price has improved investor sentiment across the sector, with Morgan Stanley last week upgrading its view for the Australian energy industry to "attractive".