la bella , ongoing

1 .WHL Energy was formally awarded Exploration Permit VIC/P67 by the Commonwealth – Victoria Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority in March 2012.

2 .. So in the past I let the market know that we had been on the farm out trail to some extent, but really that was just a soft approach to the industry players that we knew in the region, and that led to proposals that WHL's since rejected.
[ the region :
? Casino, operated by Santos;
? Minerva, operated by BHPBilliton; and
? Thylacine Geographe, operated by Origin. ]

3 .The Company continued during the quarter on preparations for the acquisition of the La Bella 3D seismic survey later in calendar 2013.

4 .we're starting to see the downstream market, the gas
buyers come to us, and look to secure gas out of the asset.

5 .employed some consultants in support to review the capital required to tie in the fields into either the Casino, Minerva or next door in the Geographe/Otway Gas Project. We've also looked at the gas pricing analysis and basically they come up with a very consistent view that says with the current expected increases for east coast gas price we can expect a project with NPVs conservatively at $85 million or as a high of $200 million in the La Bella area.

6 .The 3D seismic will essentially prove up all those prospects and leads and the La Bella prospect and lead. In the Otway area, most gas or hydrocarbons actually shine and you can see them on the 3D seismic, so that's a very interesting time and we have quite a reasonable level of
confidence that our view on the value will be seen once that 3D seismic is shot and interpreted.

7 .. So we're in discussions with several parties, we're also in discussions with gas buyers and we look forward to being able to update the market. So the market should look
forward to what I'd hope to believe is a news on a farm out in the medium term.

summary , awarded march 2013 now 14 months later would indicate that a lot of work and progress has been achieved with the permit to date.in negotiations with pre-screened candidates.

stay focused ,WG