Origin Energy Limited (ASX: ORG) has been forced to suspend drilling operations on its Australia Pacific LNG Project across 12 drill sites in south west Queensland after a potential product contamination incident.
The incident relates to the supply of drilling fluid – a critical component of the LNG drilling process – by industrial company Imdex Limited (ASX: IMD). In a separate release to the ASX, Imdex announced that it had taken the precautionary measure of quarantining an imported product called NUTPLUG "following notification that certain batches may contain a small proportion of asbestos."
It's obviously an unexpected occurrence however it would appear to relate to the contamination of a relatively small batch of product which is meant to contain only nut-based products. Given only minor falls in their share prices occurred after each company's respective announcement it would also appear that investors are not overly concerned that the suspension of drilling will dramatically change the APLNG completion timeline, nor will the product scare have a lasting impact on Imdex's business which is already suffering from the decline in commodity markets.
Foolish takeaway
While on this occasion the "bad news" probably hasn't created a buying opportunity, it is exactly these sorts of events which can often yield great buying opportunities for alert investors.
