blackford dolphin, page-4

BARRY FITZGERALD From:?The Australian December 18, 2012 12:00AM

Karoon Gas (KAR)
IT's that time of year when brokers and others give their tips for stocks that could do well in the year ahead. Karoon Gas features in many of the lists, with more than a few suggesting that it is a stock that could well double to more than $10 a share from its current level of $5.10 a share.
Maybe so. At its current level, Karoon's current market capitalisation of $1.2bn is covered by its 40 per cent share in the ConocoPhillips-led joint venture in the Browse Basin off the coast of Western Australia that is drilling away at a prospect called Zephyros 1. It is one of many to be drilled for which there are high hopes, with any success to add to the resource base already secured by the joint venture at the Poseidon and Kronos gas finds.
Poseidon/Kronos have confirmed the joint venture as an LNG player in the Browse, with upper end expectations that as much as 15 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas could be proved up in the permits over time with success at Zephyros and other targets.
For comparison purposes, it was in the Browse that BHP last week pulled in some $1.5bn by selling an 11 per cent stake in the Woodside-led Browse joint venture with its 15.5 tcf of gas and LNG ambitions.
But the real excitement in Karoon in the weeks ahead will be in its oil exploration program in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil. It has been a long time coming and we're about to find out if it has been worth the wait. The first well planned by Karoon, the ever so patriotically named Kangaroo 1, is due to spud-in in the last week of this month.
Outside consultants reckon Kangaroo has "gross mean prospective resource" potential of 272 million barrels of oil. Now as interesting as big gas off the WA coast is, a sizeable find of "black gold" wins hands down every time in grabbing investor attention. Prospects Emu 1 and Bilby 1 are due to follow in Karoon's Santos Basin effort.
The Santos Basin is what you might call a greasy part of the world. Karoon has dutifully reported that, in its relatively shallow waters, the basin is home to several recent discoveries with similar geological characteristics to its targets, and with collective in-place resources in the billions of barrels of oil equivalent.

Have a great 2013 everyone