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Seems word is spreading:

TER: There's also a lot going on in Australia. Who is on your radar there?

PD: What we're looking at now are developments onshore in the central part of Australia, where there's been relatively little exploration historically. Admittedly, over the last 40 years or so, the Cooper basin has generated highly significant production but there are other large basins in various parts of Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia that offer both conventional and shale potential.

One company that has very considerable acreage is Central Petroleum Ltd. (CTP:ASX), with about 60M gross acres or so in areas where there's been relatively little exploration and development activity. This is an early-stage play with both shale and conventional opportunities. It announced the Surprise discovery about a year ago in the Amadeus basin in the Northern Territory. We're expecting it to soon announce a reserve estimate for that project, which should be quite interesting.

To unlock the opportunities, particularly for the shale projects, it announced two big joint ventures at the end of last year. One is with Santos Ltd. (STO:ASX), a major Australian independent that was instrumental in developing the Cooper basin in South Australia and Queensland, and the other is with Total S.A. (TOT:NYSE). We're expecting the work program on these opportunities, particularly in the south Amadeus basin, to begin during the Q2/13.