It now seems to Slugcatcher that Gorgon is threatened more by the Iago, the scheming villain from William Shakespeare's Othello, than by the heroic Perseus.

Before questioning what the Slug has been smoking in this curiously mixed look at literature, myth and geology, consider last week's news from Chevron.

In a seriously understated announcement, Chevron reported a flow of 53 million cubic feet of gas a day from the Iago-2 well off Australia's northwest coast.

Apart from the handsome flow rate, two other factors make Iago look rather impressive from a Chevron shareholder's perspective.

It is in water just 47m deep and much of the resource is 100%-Chevron owned. The only external interest is a one-third stake held by Shell in one of the two permits covering Iago.

Water depth and effective control of the resource are two critical measures that should ensure the rapid development of Iago and the nearby Wheatstone gas resource, which is 100%-owned by Chevron.

The missing link, and the one The Slug is keen to see, is a breakdown of the gas composition, especially a measure of greenhouse enemy number one, carbon dioxide.

If Iago's gas is clean, which seems highly likely, Chevron has just been handed one of the Australian oil and gas industry's most bittersweet opportunities - and that's where the original Iago comes in.

This devilishly evil character worked alongside Othello, a black general in the army of Venice.

It was Iago who plotted the downfall of his rival, Cassio, and then set about white-anting his boss, Othello, and Othello's wife Desdemona - who does get bumped off.

In Chevron's world it's much the same. Gorgon is its star Australian asset, but a deeply flawed asset, at best. It has been sitting undeveloped for 28 years for several reasons.

In the early years, the water was too deep and the gas fields were too remote.

Then, just as technology was overcoming these problems, there came a slump in hydrocarbon prices.

Of course, oil and gas prices recovered, but by this time the issue of Gorgon's high carbon dioxide content had become a serious problem as the global-warming debate heated up.

In addition, Chevron management erred grievously by choosing Barrow Island as the land processing site, despite deep government concerns and repeated public warnings about the environmental issues on the island.

Management erred again by trotting out a carbon geosequestration concept that is unproven - and might never be proven as BP has discovered with its abandoned geosequestration plan south of Perth.

Finally, the joint venture has struggled with a never-ending series of disputes between the three owners of Gorgon - Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil - with each member of the JV having competing objectives and alternative projects.

Now, we watch as Iago enters the Gorgon debate like a thief in the night.

Iago is a Chevron-controlled gasfield ripe for marriage with another Chevron asset in Wheatstone.

Both are in relatively shallow water, with the certainty of a mainland processing site. They are also almost certainly without high carbon dioxide readings, and are not vulnerable to the nit-picking and go-slow tactics of Shell and ExxonMobil.

Officially, Chevron is being its usual uncommunicative self. Saying as little as possible, perhaps because it doesn't have the answers, but also because management knows there is a painfully delicious decision to be made.

Slugcatcher is less cautious. He reckons the Iago-Wheatstone combination is so attractive in a climate of sky-high gas prices that Chevron will put Gorgon back into its "too hard/sometime in the future" basket, and re-allocate engineering design staff to Iago-Wheatstone.

Some critics might say Gorgon has finally been killed by Perseus (and other easy-to-develop gasfields). Others might say it is Iago's revenge.

The Slug reckons it's far simpler than a combined Greek and Shakespearean tragedy. A bird in the hand will always beat a Gorgon in the bush.