Apache's Permian basin "strike": a contrarian curiosity underpinned by great science and engineering

For those still rubbing their eyes in disbelief in yesterday's announcement from Apache on their Alpine High "discovery" in the Permian Basin, here's a link to their CEO's presentation. It contains a (surprising) amount of technical information on the "find". To share two of my reactions. Firstly, it appears that a contrarian curiosity to re-evaluate an area overlooked - or worse dismissed - by industry led to their "find" of a big resource, at a snip of $1300/acre - at least compared to the prices being paid recently by those in the "mainstream" of the Permian Basin. Secondly, they've backed that contrarian curiosity with the appropriate science and engineering to relatively quickly get past proof of concept into forward development so that the project will soak up 25% of Apache's capital this year. A great example of how ingenuity combined with well-backed, best-applicable technology can make a huge difference.