Just get an article from beach forum:Cooper Basin ASX oilies...

Just get an article from beach forum:

Cooper Basin ASX oilies outperform: Beach Energy, Strike Energy, Acer Energy

Wednesday, March 14, 2012
by Bevis Yeo

Cooper Basin focused oil and gas players have outperformed leading ASX indices since the beginning of this year on the back of strong performance along with unconventional oil and gas hopes.

Beach Energy (ASX: BPT), one of the leading players in the Basin, has seen its shares hit a peak of A$1.765 on 24 February before moderating down to the current A$1.50.

However, this is still almost 21% higher than the A$1.24 it started the year with on 3 January and well above the 4.5% and 14.05% increases experienced by the S&P ASX200 and S&P ASX200 Energy indices during the same period.

Beach has had a busy start so far, finishing up its acquisition of Adelaide Energy, returning to profitability and enjoying successes with its Cooper Basin Western Flank drilling.

The company is also preparing to fracture stimulate its second shale gas exploration well, which would firm up its resource estimates if successful.

Success on the Western Flank have also been key drivers for both Senex Energy (ASX: SXY) and Drillsearch Energy (ASX: DLS), both of which also happen to be joint venture partners with Beach in many permits.

Growth food

While some of the gains are no doubt due to conventional exploration success, a large part of the gains made are on expectations that the shale and tight oil and gas plays in the Basin will bear fruit.

Beach had last year drilled two successful shale gas exploration wells and released a contingent resource of 2 trillion cubic feet after testing one of them.

While still unproven, the prospect that this resource could be extended throughout the entire Basin, or at least where similar shales and formations are located.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/26418/cooper-basin-asx-oilies-outperform-beach-energy-strike-energy-acer-energy--26418.html