junior oilers 12/13 april, page-16

re: junior oilers 12/13 april leafcutter Hi Jocam.

I had a chat with DLS during the week. Their strategy re Bonaparte has not changed much from some six months ago they said they were going to define targets then start negotiating farm-ins. Now that Marina is defined I got the impression they are now talking actively to a major and would bet my nellies that its Santos not WPL. Santos are putting a development plan for the Tern gasfield. A farm-in may not be far away.

I asked about the oil or gas target and they said they did believe in the first place the prospects could be oil or gas but the best prospect Marina ultimately proved to be gas (though it could contain oil).

Either way we are not looking until 2004 until this one is drilled. Which again is in line with their original schedule.

I got the impression they are out to do some deals on some new leases which was alluded to be the main reason for the capital raising. But then again this is the usual activity when oilers are not drilling.

Either way the next activity for DLS is the 11 well campaign with Santos this year, which is not far way from starting. Qtrly will give details.

Unfortunately they are poor with marketing themselves so I cant see the market getting excited over this campaign.

For my purposes they havent been guilty of being optimisitic with their timeframes. DLS is the only oiler I hold.



Cheers
AC