Empire Energy Corporation Intl. (fka EEGC)

[oilsleuth]

There has been ample opportunity for any properly funded company to apply for the Bellevue ground but none have bothered to. The basic problem is that it has very low prospectivity for hitting commercial hydrocarbons in drilling and the industry in general has much better prospects elsewhere to spend its money on (prospects that aren't largely justified by religious visions).

It's interesting that Smart Win used to be accused of being the villain of the piece by sabotaging plucky little Mal in order to get the ground for itself, however, they have not shown any interest in taking out a licence and going it alone. I suspect that SW didn't fully understand the 2% chance of success figure estimated by an independent consultant when they entered the deal with EEGC (effectively an option and not a JV as Mal later erroneously claimed) and they somewhat unrealistically believed they could be refunded their outlay if drilling at Bellevue proved a fizzer.

The sad fact is that Bellevue is little better than useless wallaby scrub and a nesting place for wedgetail eagles.

To complete the picture Tasmania isn't exactly a friendly place for petroleum exloration anyway now that an unholy alliance of the Greens and pastoral interests have been successful in pressuring the government to put a moratorium on fracking.