To be fair to management, they did work incredibly cheaply 5+...

To be fair to management, they did work incredibly cheaply 5+ years ago... It's only in the last couple of years that wages have gone crazy. Like anyone facing serious job instability they have an incentive to reduce wages to ensure long term money flow and more money in the long run. I'm the first person to say they're overpaid, I've said it several times. The CEO is earning over 10% of the market cap in wages at .4c. But they did work for $50k back in the day and there will be a tonne of pressure applied to them. I don't think it's entirely laughable to suggest they might cut wages. NSE have done it, other small companies in trouble have done it, I don't think OBL is a special case of avarice amongst all the other small caps just keeping management paid. Not saying they'll do it of course, just saying it should be on the cards.

They're just in a very, very bad and unlucky situation now. I agree, there isn't a JV partner rubbing their hands together just waiting to get in... Hell, we've had both BRU and OXX just get up and leave! REY took a punt and got 50% for what is probably ~$2.6M, almost a mill cheaper than BRU were prepared to pay. Look at the state of the oil market.. there must be thousands of more attractive opportunities at these prices... For investors as well as potential JV partners. Just, really, really bad timing. Would have been nice if they could have got Buru to fund most things ages ago instead of fighting them on it. Oh well same could be said for dozens of companies that have had delays and are now trying to be active with $50 oil, BRU included.
REY might have a few tricks up their sleeve though given they have access to Chinese money. It might not really help OBL, but there might be some wriggle room to make a deal to save their bacon. It won't be as good as anything that has been on the table before though.

Probably the biggest immediate issue is a ~$500k placement at these low levels and the need for $3m over the next twelve months. The money owed from REY/BOPL will be burnt through in 3 or so months at current expenditure and that's another 12 months of monthly Lind dilution. We're talking having maybe another 600M shares on issue end of next financial year at current prices (which they won't really be one way or the other). They probably won't even do all the seismic this year.

Might still be worth a trade though if you get your timing right.