Free markets correct themselves, usually too quickly for an amateur to participate and, thankfully, too fast for government to interfere. Even when slow about it, markets do always right themselves eventually. So why, at press time, did Energy Partners Ltd.'s stock price continue to hold the elevated stature a late-August bid from Woodside Petroleum Ltd. gave it, although EPL has rejected the Woodside bid?

Also unusual: Stone Energy Corp.'s stock price has remained in the tank.

For those not following the story, Stone's share price shouldn't seem to have much to do with that of the others involved in this drama. Add this to the mix: Plains Exploration & Production Co.

Fashionable today is the faux-mance (a brief fling the media or one party mistakes for a romance) and the bro-mance (pronounced with a long "o" and used, for example, to describe the friendship of Lance Armstrong and Matthew McConaughey). Recent dalliances with Stone are looking increasingly like a faux-mance very much involving some bro-mances. And, the continued lack of resolution could mortally crush Stone's wounded momentum as an ongoing concern.

Some background: Wall Street darling Stone Energy, which posted consecutive performance improvements for most of its years, ran into production-decline and reserve-writedown issues last year that were exacerbated by hurricane damage to cash flow.

The Lafayette, Louisiana-based producer drew the attention of Plains E&P chief Jim Flores, a fellow South Louisianan, who made a fair offer for the predominantly Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast producer. His all-stock offer April 24 valued Stone shares at $52.46, compared with a pre-announcement close of $47.10. This price was based on Plains' pre-announcement close of $41.97.

Plains' shares immediately plummeted (to as low as $31.70 by June 13), and some investors blamed the Stone offer. In fact, most oil and gas producers' stock prices fell, coincidentally, beginning the same day as the Plains-Stone news, due to commodity-price jitters. So, the bid for Stone was not entirely to blame. However, Plains' shares did fall harder than other producers' stock-enough to make a few shareholders fret.

May 26, enter New Orleans-based Energy Partners Ltd., led by former Louisiana L&E executive Richard Bachmann and friend of Stone's founder and fellow New Orleansan Jimmy Stone. Bachmann had a better offer for Stone, and indicated that day that he would write about it in detail on June 16. He did.

The EPL offer, based on a pre-announcement EPL share price of $18.75, valued Stone shares at $49.17. That was less than Plains' offer, but the Plains offer was all stock, and Plains' stock price had fallen 24% since April 24. It was now worth $39.87 per Stone share.

Stone took the EPL offer and paid Plains a $43.5-million break-up fee. Plains did not challenge it. Detangling from Stone, its stock price soared and was $43.75 at press time-higher than the pre-Stone-bid.

Now that EPL was dancing with Stone, its stock price tumbled, from $18.75 pre-announcement to $16.46. The foundering continued until late-August when Woodside made a bid for EPL of $23 per share, and a possibility of up to $24, on this condition: EPL had to drop its bid for Stone.

The Australia-based Woodside, with operations in the Gulf of Mexico, has management roots in South Louisiana-Covington, Louisiana-based Explore Enterprises of Louisiana, founded by former W&T Offshore Inc. executives Bill Bethea and David McCubbin, is now part of Woodside Energy (USA) Inc.

But the Woodside bid was an unusual request, and another punch to Stone.

EPL's stock soared upon the Woodside offer to $24.14, and Stone shares fell-from $47.30 to $40.83. At press time, EPL had rejected Woodside's bid, meaning its engagement to Stone continues. EPL shares remained at better than $24, however, while Stone shares were still at around $41.

The gap suggests the markets know more about the odds of this deal closing than outsiders. Based on the structure of the EPL offer and its share price at press time, Stone shares would be valued on Wall Street at $62.94.

Meanwhile, Plains' offer for Stone would be worth $54.66 per share at press time, if still on the table. But Stone shareholders were participating in the spoils of neither of the liaisons.

Stay tuned. Stone's and EPL's stock prices suggest the Woodside offer may still be on the dance card, and Woodside doesn't want to dance with Stone.