(Last Friday arvo it was the NZ High Court's ruling on the Goldie dispute and OffGar's Dampier pipeline tariff ruling the Friday afternoon previous to that - when's a man supposed to get a drink in?)
Though Woodside had not released the news to the ASX and therefore would not officially confirm the news until this week, the AMEC Fluor JV picked up the EPC, Samsung the FPSO hull and SBM the turret mooring system.
Why it took a dozen Woodsiders to personally break the bad news to Worley in Perth it is not known, neither is the reason why they, and not the Worley crew left the building with longer faces than when they went in. The $1.5 billion project should go some way, though not enough, to satisfying the market's perception of Woodside's looming liquids earnings hole.
Aside from a busy drilling schedule the other news for Woodside was an attempted coup in the US-friendly Mauritania. Although short-lived, it threw a scare into traders who also sold down Hardman and Roc during the session.
Interestingly, not one of the concerned companies put out any form of explanatory or briefing statement to comfort the market when the reports first started to circulate, and it could be argued, their shareholders subsequently paid the price.
For Woodside shareholders, it put a damper on their very pleasing Otway Gas project news, though the stock has regained most of its lost ground. Former Sunrise skipper, Mike Shearman, is leading the Otway team.
Elsewhere, Amity farmed out a piece of a current Turkish well and sold its idle drill rig, both moves improving its already solid financial position. The stock continued to strengthen after last week's slight stumble.
Carnarvon Petroleum picked up a serious parcel of land surrounding its existing Thai production, while Brunei and Malaysia are fighting over oil rich border areas offshore Borneo. Amerada Hess have ditched the Gulf of Mexico for Thailand.
Wind power investment has doubled recently but unless the government increases compulsory renewable energy targets, that activity will dry up, the industry was warned.
AWE is without a major shareholder for the first time in many years, as Premier cashed out its 18.5% interest to pay for the stake of Chinguetti it bought from the fledgling West-Perth based, London-listed, Fusion Oil. Mixed feelings for Bruce Phillips and the lads as they now have a wide open register and no more big brother. Whether a takeover premium starts to get built into the AWE stock remains to be seen.
Our man 'embedded' in the oft-hostile environs of New Zealand reported more shots between the bunkers of Indo-Pacific and pugilistic partner, Greymouth Petroleum, and the Crown stepped into the fray asking Greymouth to shut its Kaimiro-19 well for the same reasons the company successfully sued Indo for. Can't help it but that has to be a classic case of the pot calling the kettle … grey?
Our scribe also stumbled upon the confidential Commerce Commission report on Pohokura, which confirmed his revelation last month that Todd Energy were upping their stake to around 26% in the field. You win some, you win some.
Clough and Aker teamed up to form a subsea JV and the Adelaide Uni opened its Australian School of Petroleum
And finally, we'll all stop paying $10 every time we fly, when (if) the airlines pass on the government-imposed Ansett levy, charged after the demise of the aviation icon. Now that's worth a drink to the 75% of flyers who are on resources-related business.
