>To the best of my understanding that portion of the Mako Trough under FO license is not a shale basin.

This is from Ian Macqueen in the May 07 Orion report. The Endrod is also another reason why I think Exxon will want to stick around. They haven't even got to it yet.

Endrod Play

The Endrod Formation can be further subdivided into the Upper and Lower
Endrod formations. The Upper Endrod consists of mainly siltstones and shales
becoming more marly with depth. The Lower Endrod consists of mostly shale and
marl (calcium carbonate or lime rich muds).

The Endrod shales are thought to be the source of the hydrocarbons that are found
in the overlying Szolnok Formation, the underlying Basal Conglomerate and Synrift
formations and the productive oil and gas fields that flank the Mako Trough.

The Endrod shales contain total organic carbon (TOC) that can be up to 5%.
Typical source rocks, usually shales or limestones, contain at least 0.5% TOC,
although a rich source rock might have as much as 10% TOC. This means that the
Lower Endrod shales are classified as very good potential source rocks. Falcon
indicated that the Endrod shales were highly overpressured and continually liberated
gas during drilling.

Shale gas is attracting a lot of attention in North America and numerous U.S.-based
E&P companies are producing from shales in various basins around the country.
One of the most famous is the Barnett Shale near Fort Worth, Texas. The Barnett
Shale is producing approximately 2 Bcf/d, making it the largest field in Texas and a
major contributor to U.S. gas production.

The Endrod Formation is up to 700 metres thick in the central portion of the Mako
Trough and can be mapped seismically over 1,000 square kilometres across the
trough. Falcon plans to fracture stimulate the Endrod shales to artificially create
permeability in the rock and provide a pathway for the gas to flow from the shale to
a wellbore.

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And this is from an article about Shale gas:

There are two key reasons the Barnett became the biggest shale play, Foster
said. Compared with other productive U.S. gas shales – the Ohio, Antrim, New
Albany and Lewis – the Barnett is over pressured with a gradient of about 0.52
psi/ft, and it contains much more gas in place, an estimated 142 Bcf/sq mile.

The Mako Trough has a pressure gradient of almost twice that.