re: targets 200+ million barrels in ten wells COOPER Energy...

re: targets 200+ million barrels in ten wells COOPER Energy shareholders are in for some ride in the first half of next year, with the Cooper Basin oil junior set to drill six exploration wells.

The program includes five bread-and-butter wells in the Cooper Basin and a high-impact onshore well in Indonesia.

The all-up potential is for more than 200 million barrels of oil, with the Indonesian well the daddy of the program. That gives shareholders something to dream about. But realistically the net result from the program is likely to be something much less.

No problems with that given the group's modest market capitalisation — a value pretty much covered by its current cash holdings and the flow of cash coming from its existing production in the Cooper Basin.

Even modest success in the six-well program will light a fire under the share price. And if the company brings in a big brother to fund the drilling of the high-impact South Madura well in Indonesia, the share price will get a move on even before the well is spudded.

Cooper has reported that preliminary work suggests that South Madura has the potential for 199 million barrels of oil in one zone and 256 billion cubic feet of gas in a shallower target.

The prospect, owned 45 per cent by Cooper, is expected to be drilled in early 2006. The onshore block is sandwiched between several oil and gas fields in the East Java Basin and lies immediately north of the Santos-operated Jeruk and Oyong oil and gas discoveries.

Back in the Cooper Basin, the company has secured drilling rigs for its three operated wells in PEL88 and PEL100, with Fairbridge 1 (38.33 per cent interest) ready to go at the end of the month.

It is ranked as a 3.7 million barrel target from one of two zones of interest on the structure and will be followed up by a well on the 3.1 million barrel Strickland Bay prospect.

It is likely that the 5.1 million barrel Geordie prospect will be put to the test by the drill bit at about the same time. Then Silver Sands and Boomer will follow.

The group's exploration program is all about securing a bigger future, leveraging off the steady cash flow from existing Cooper Basin production.

The inclusion of the high-impact program in Indonesia is just the start of a push into other overseas locations that are expected to throw up more potential game-changing opportunities. Cooper closed 2.5¢ higher on Friday at 42¢.