["Another scenario would have the mole feeding shorts over the past few years information concerning activities underway undermining IOC and its efforts to monetize its discoveries. That mole subsequently found itself caught in a circle of bigger and bigger lies after the source of the IOC undermining power was in some way deballed. That event may well have ultimately been the election landslide by ONeil. We now have 14 million shares short with a large number of those shares possibly established according to the bigger fool theory.
Nonetheless, it is still possible there is no accretive bid for E/A, or there is some catastrophe waiting for IOC on the horizon. I doubt though that's the case. The company and its assets have become far too public and PNG's need for investment too large for a government takeover to occur, and that is the only way IOC gas does not get to market. We might never see IOC share prices at 1,000 but it sure seems like $250 this year is a 3 inch putt."]
I doubt it Art. I'm proceeding as if these rumors have merit, then, since I'm certain the doubts about E/A are unfounded, that leaves the shorts almost certainly thought someone had their backs as the only (rational) explanation for their doubling down behavior. If that game has now been exposed and dealt with, they're in an awkward place, at the worst possible moment (having shorted 14m shares with few if any available and at extortionary rates and with deal announcement not far off).
It chimes, as another notable participant in this game of thrones (or thornes, I keep forgetting), had a sudden fit of activity, that is, RDS. If the Petromin game has now been neutralized, that has left them both naked, so to speak. By the way, I'm fairly sure its Petromin and not Duma, the latter wasn't too pleased with these ads.
It's still a very foggy situation though, for instance, what I wonder is how they would ever think they could rely on Petromin for things to go their way. It seems to me, NEC trumps Petromin, but I'm just an amateur outside observer, almost certainly drawing conclusions from incomplete and possibly wrong info. However, that there is something going on at Petromin and Shell seems to be fairly well grounded.