Yes, the bigones continue to buy. For quite some time, at least a year Shell has talked about that lacking investing could lead to shortage and china continues to be hungry:

Shell, Petrochina reach agreement on $3.1B Arrow takeover

Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina convinced Arrow Energy to accept an increased $3.1 billion bid, giving resource-hungry China its first bite of Australia's burgeoning coal-seam gas industry.

The offer, which needs approval from Australian regulators and Arrow shareholders, highlights the growing importance of coal seam gas (CSG) as a key source of energy in the United States and a major target for multinationals in Australia since 2008.

In addition to A$4.70 a share in cash, Arrow investors will retain ownership of some domestic and international assets which will be spun out into a new entity to be called Dart Energy.

The Shell-Petrochina joint venture will integrate Arrow's Australian assets with Shell's existing CSG assets and Shell's site for a planned Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant on Curtis Island, Queensland, the companies said on Monday.

Shell and PetroChina will each own 50 percent of the gas produced by the LNG plant and the Anglo-Dutch oil major said it was likely to sell its gas to China.

Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/energy/story.html?id=2711045#ixzz0jHociFQM
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It also seems that Suncor increases production and resently I read "peak oil", some thinks 2014, one year before ealier predictions. I dont think anyone can tell the exact time for peak oil, but lack of investment will not bring more oil, that much I can understand:)
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About todays option sale/buy. Well, I think the management have done a very good job, a fantastic job. The options were about to expire and now we've got good long time investors. We have very good outlook. QEC have used money to buy Horn River land, very good, increases value. Now we can drill our own wells. The sp have gone up(traders keep it down, but we have good outlook. All in all I think it looks very promising. Also Canada looks good. In fact, I got an e-mail from an investing bank, that says:"invest in Canada and Australia"!