gap closed, page-14

re: gap closed / hooter G'day Snoball. Bit of a bugger with Zoule now that it's all official. Should be good to have the Atwood Hunter for a couple of years though. If you look at how the rate of exploration has increased thru the years, I'm looking forward to 2006 and 2007.

2001 - 2 exploration wells (Chinguetti, Courbine)
2002 - 2 “ “ (Banda, Thon)
2003 - 3 “ “ (Tiof, Poune, Pelican)
2004 - 4 “ “ (Tevet, Dorade, Capitaine, Merou)
2005 - 5 “ “ (Sotto, Espadon, Tevet/Deep, Labeidna, Faucon, Zoule)
2006 - 7 or 8 exploration wells (based on the same drilling rate as the Stena Tay)
2007 - similar if not more than 2006?

And the results so far….pretty disappointing, but if you put them in context I’m not sure…..possibly not too bad considering the sparse area and the fact that they really haven’t come home to the known oil hot spots yet….

Micocene – 10 exploration wells (4 oil discoveries – Ching, Tiof, Tevet, Labeidna; 1 gas discovery – Banda; 5 dusters)

Cretaceous – 7 exploration wells ( 1 gas discovery – Pelican; 1 non-commercial oil discovery – Tevet Deep; 5 dusters)

I think 2006 could be a year for some more mixed results, but 2007 may focus on the areas around Ching and Tiof to start proving up reserves. I spoke to Simon Potter at the Melb roadshow presentation and asked him when it’s likely they’ll focus on the known areas instead of outlying and higher risk prospects, and he actually said he’d prefer to have a look around in the shallow waters for 2006 and then move back in and around Ching and Tiof in 2007. Ideally he said Colin may prove to be another hub to focus on.

In the mean time, bring on Uganda and more importantly Dore....

Cheers,
Butcherano.