Arrow QGC and Origin also rated a mention in The Times In England today. It says below, several majors circling AOE, including Shell, BP, ENI and Total! From The TimesMay 31, 2008
Australia strikes it rich as oil majors scent big potential of coal-seam gasPaul Larter A dead canary in the hot, wet and filthy confines of a coal mine once meant a panicked evacuation. Natural gas was the most perilous of hazards, and a fall from the perch was an early warning of potential explosions, poisonous air or both.
This year, the rush has been back down the shaft as soaring prices and demand in Asia-Pacific have drawn BG Group and its international competitors to the world's largest resource of coal's unloved bedfellow: methane.
The charge is centred on what Australia's Science Agency estimates is 250 trillion cu ft of gas locked in vast Jurassic coalfields largely under the sweeping agricultural plains of southern Queensland. Proven reserves are a fraction of that but confirmation of the full resource would make this tiny portion of the country the world's fourth-largest source of natural gas - ahead of Saudi Arabia.
Aiden Bradley, an analyst at ABN Amro Morgans in Sydney, said: “The potential is pretty mind-boggling. Historically because of Australia's isolation, it was not worth a lot. Now there's the potential to export it through LNG because of the buoyant market in Asia. This is one of those last great deposits - an almost infinite resource.”
MPO Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
