After all the noise about a potential merger of Woodside Energy and Santos last week, all that’s left to do is the work. And that began in earnest at the weekend, with the opening of virtual data rooms which are being populated with information from the two oil and gas majors.

Any transaction will be a scrip-based deal, which means attention is on the relative value of the two companies. In particular, it will be the value of key assets that will come under considerable scrutiny and that’s what the bulk of the preliminary diligence materials are centred on, those close to the discussions told Street Talk on Sunday.