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Mineral Resources has delivered its Chinese rival what it hopes will be a knockout blow in the race to acquire oil and gas producer AWE but the $526 million agreed takeover deal has left some investors questioning whether a higher price could have been achieved.

The offer from the mining services provider led by Rich Lister Chris Ellison has been improved with a cash alternative and values the target at about 83¢ a share, almost 14 per cent higher than the all-cash proposal from China Energy Reserve and Chemicals Group.

But that is lower than AWE's closing price on Wednesday of 88¢, after strong gains since the bidding war for the oil and gas player broke out.

AWE shares dipped 2.8 per cent to 85.5¢, while MinRes jumped 4.4 per cent.

AWE chief executive David Biggs said discussions with a number of major shareholders had shown they were "all very supportive and very pleased" with the deal. He also said there was nothing to stop another bidder entering with a higher price, notwithstanding the 1 per cent break fee.

"There's three to four months this process runs for so it's perfectly feasible for another bid to be made by another player," Mr Biggs said.

Awkward timing

Still, activist shareholder James Dunphy questioned why AWE's board was in such a rush to agree a deal, particularly after this week's release of an 80 per cent upgrade in the reserves at the AWE's Waitsia gas field north of Perth. The deal is also awkwardly timed for Beach Energy, which is seen by some as the most logical bidder for AWE, as Beach is still wrapping up the acquisition of AWE's 50 per cent partner in Waitsia, Lattice Energy.

Mr Dunphy said the AWE board had "never got near understanding" the value that CERCG would put on the table after rejecting its request for due diligence.

AWE's advisers are understood to have gone back to CERCG late Wednesday to see whether it could increase its offer, but still without allowing access to its accounts.

MinRes is offering 41.5¢ a share and between 0.0198 and 0.0277 of its shares for every AWE share.

Mr Ellison said the acquisition is "logical and on-strategy" for MinRes, which wants to develop Waitsia "to form a key pillar" of its business over the next 20-30 years.

Grant Thornton has been appointed as an independent expert to examine the offer, supported by RISC Advisory.

Mining plan blocked

Meanwhile, MinRes has hit out at a WA Labor government decision to block iron ore mining in the Helena-Aurora Ranges conservation park, which would rule out an extension to the life of its Yilgarn operations that employ more than 400 people.

MinRes has run out of ore at the nearby Carina hub and wanted to develop the Jackson 5 and Bungalbin East project in the ranges in what was seen a major test of the government's commitment to jobs and mining.

It said the decision is "disappointing" for both the local Yilgarn community and businesses, and the wider state as it will bring an end to the revenues the operations contributed to state coffers in the form of royalties, port fees and general economic activity.