Yeah me too - the Italian stuff is of world class IMHO.
Given the gas prices and extreme proximity to infrastructure it looks great. This from a while back:
"Hardman's success may hold the key for Key Petroleum Email Print Normal font Large font Barry FitzGerald March 19, 2007
Page 1 of 2 | Single page GARIMPEIRO
TED ELLYARD'S track record speaks for itself. During his eight-year tenure as chief executive of Hardman Resources, the company's value soared from $5 million to $1.5 billion.
That growth was underpinned by Hardman's lead role in the Mauritanian oil and gas discoveries. It was Ellyard that first introduced Shell, and then Woodside, to Mauritania when its oil potential was very much frontier stuff.
Ellyard finished up at Hardman in late 2004 due to a health scare and a recognition that with production about to start from the first of the Mauritanian oil discoveries, his job as an explorationist and creator of development opportunities had been done.
Hardman shareholders that rode that eight-year value surge have been waiting for Ellyard's return to the oil and gas business, particularly as Hardman has since been taken over.
Last week's lodging of a prospectus for the $19.2 million float of Key Petroleum (64 million shares at 30¢ each) marks that return. The underwritten float (Blackwood Capital and CommSec) is typical Ellyard stuff in that it zeroes in on international opportunities.
If there is a key difference this time around, it is that Ellyard has made sure there won't be any frustrating delays in bringing discoveries to market. Key's exploration portfolio is almost entirely geared towards acreage that sits close to existing production and infrastructure.
Key's other point of difference from all other floats is that more than 70 per cent of the company is on offer. The unusually low rake by promoters/vendors presumably helped in Key securing its underwriting agreement.
Key's main interests — Ellyard and Key's managing director, Ken Russell, can be expected to add to it over time — are in Tanzania, Italy and Suriname.
In Tanzania, it starts out listed life earning a 20 per cent interest in the 1300-square-kilometre Nyuni offshore block by funding 30 per cent of the cost of drilling two wells in the back half of the year.
The block is next to the producing Songo Songo gas field in the southern portion of the Mafia Basin.
Some 11 prospects/leads have been identified in the Nyuni block, and although the basin is considered to be gas-prone, limited exploration to date means it's too early to rule out oil pools being found.
The Italian portfolio includes onshore and offshore plays.
Most interest in the Italian portfolio will be with Key's Borsano permit near Milan in the Po Valley. A well is planned for late 2007/early 2008.
The block lies eight kilometres from the 250-million-barrel Villafortuna oilfield, the biggest in the Po Valley from Triassic carbonates at depths of 5500-6000 metres.
Two previous wells in the Borsano block pulled up in the Tertiary sands, so did not test for the prospective Triassic carbonates. Seismic work to define drill targets will be the initial focus.
The Suriname interest is small at 1.75 per cent but it does give Key free-carried exposure to a big drilling program in a major (heavy) oil province. As an aside, the Hardman link continues as the Suriname interest is held through a trust arrangement with Hardman, now part of British-listed Tullow."
(20min delay)