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Oil industry fears that the current high price is unsustainable could, along with signs of stress in some investors, spark a run of bargain basement acquisitions.
Premier Oil, long dogged with the tag of an unlucky explorer, is fast gaining a new name for sweeping up assets at knockdown prices.
The company has bought out its indebted partner Delek on the Chim Sao prospect offshore Vietnam for $72 million (£43.6 million) in a deal which adds reserves of 10 million barrels and 5000 barrels of production. It also gives Premier majority control of the development.
However, what raised eyebrows is the cost of the deal at around $7 a barrel, cheaper per barrel than the knockdown £350 million it paid for the North Sea interests of beleaguered Oilexco in the spring, which brought in 13,000 barrels of production but also £650 million of tax losses.
Richard Rose, analyst at Oriel Securities, said the acquisition price suggests investors are thinking more about a $55 per barrel long-term price for oil than the $80 a barrel many investment models have been working from.
