Oilmaninvestor.

Inpex might have gotten a look in the Data Room when Philip was looking for a Hess replacement, but then again I am not sure that Inpex did. I asked Philip about Inpex as a logical JV partner - when he was last in Vancouver for a ProActive presentation - as I had mentioned on the board here a couple of times that I thought Inpex would make a great JV partner for the Beetaloo. Philip told me at that time that he didn't want Inpex as a JV partner in the Beetaloo, but rather would look to Inpex as a buyer of Falcon's 30% interest in the Beetaloo when the gas was flowing and the reserves proven. If Inpex was our JV partner and owned 70% of the overall rights - then they may not be in any hurry to pick up the remaining 30% - if Inpex's 70% of the Beetaloo was producing so much gas that they just didn't need to buyout Falcon's remaining 30% anytime soon.

Philip's thinking was brilliant in doing the JV with Origin and Sasol - as either of these two multi-billion dollar companies may want to buy out Falcon's interest when the reserves are proven. However, if Sasol or Origin doesn't buy out Falcon's interest then Philip would have another multi-billion dollar company with a massive LNG plant in Darwin that would need to get it's hands on all the gas reserves it possibly could.

Now, Inpex has decided to reach out and spend millions of $$ on the periphery of Falcon's holdings - buying up a land position that Falcon, Origin and Sasol were acceptable to relingquish - just to have some sort of hand into the Beetaloo's reserves. I think the odds are now even better that Falcon has by far the better land holdings and stronger long term position in the Beetaloo.