not sure if this has been posted before apologies if it hasfrom...

not sure if this has been posted before apologies if it has


from The Australian 9th April by Robin Bromby


"Tread carefully

WE have frequent correspondence from someone who, after 12 years in Indonesia, ranks as an old hand, and in his latest note, he points out that during this time he has ever only traded and invested in one ASX stock with Indonesian interests: metals explorer Robust Resources (ROL), which went from 10c to $2.72 in early 2010 and trades today at a reasonably buoyant $1.23.

Now he's backed a second one, Quest Petroleum (QPN), which last traded at 0.6c.

The company announced on Tuesday that it had appointed to the board Indonesian oil and gas identity Mochamad Thamrin, who held senior posts at the government giant Pertamina.

Quest plans to drill three targets this year in South Sumatra.

Gas produced around Sumatra has a ready market in Singapore.

Our man in Jakarta says the change in fortunes was the backdoor takeover last year of Quest by venture capital firm Merric Capital.

This is real high-risk stuff.

Oil and gas exploration is perilous enough but Indonesia, as it has shown recently with plans to enforce local control of resource projects, can be a difficult place.

Tread carefully, and the disclaimer below means what it says."

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As has been said many times the advantage we have here is local knowledge, led by Thamrin.