smoke signals galore here punters, page-13

interest may be related to the Betaloo basin...as this article shows things are hotting up there..

All eyes on US miner's $55m Beetaloo gas bid in NT
THE little-known Beetaloo Basin, 600km south of Darwin, is about to have the spotlight descend on it as US oil company Hess finalises a $US60 million ($55.6m) deal to explore there, and a US oilman with a lengthy interest in the region gears up for an Australian float focused on surrounding permits.

The onshore basin, which its explorers hope will yield either conventional oil or tight oil and gas, was first explored by CRA in the 1980s, but has more recently sat in the hands of small US companies associated with American Marc Bruner -- most recently PetroHunter Energy and Falcon Oil & Gas.

It is believed the Denver-based Falcon, a $US90m company listed on Toronto's Venture Exchange, will this week announce it has finalised regulatory approvals for a deal where Hess will pay $US20m for a 62.5 per cent interest in three of four of Falcon's Beetaloo tenements and 10 million Falcon warrants.

The Houston-based major will then spend $US40m on seismic studies of the permits that will start this year. If the ground still looks prospective enough, it will spend a whole lot more on a five-well drill program next year.

While Hess is avoiding making much noise about its interest, and is only locked in to the initial seismic work, the fact the basin has been chosen by the $US26 billion Houston company as an entry into Australian onshore oil and gas will ensure there is a close eye on the results. Hess will also pay an extra $2m for data from Falcon's Shenandoah-1 well, in Falcon's remaining tenement. The well is set to be recased and tested this quarter.

The angle to the story for local investors is that Mr Bruner, Falcon's former chief executive, is planning an ASX float by September of his company, Paltar Petroleum, which has acquired tenements on the outskirts of Falcon and Hess's ground.

Mr Bruner is also the major shareholder of PetroHunter and its subsidiary Sweetpea, which has sold both Falcon and Paltar their Beetaloo ground.

The initial public offering will seek to raise $25m to appraise the ground and, if all goes to plan, see Paltar list with a market value of $138m.

Last year, Mr Bruner resigned from Falcon after five years at the helm. He has had previous success building unconventional oil and gas plays, such as Ultra Petroleum and Pennaco Energy, along with Falcon.

His sudden departure from Falcon, where he was replaced by director Robert Macaulay, came after US giant Exxon walked away from a Hungarian oil venture Mr Bruner had negotiated.

Mr Bruner said Beetaloo could be one of the world's largest untapped shale deposits, with the potential for both conventional oil flow and tight oil and gas.

In a presentation to investors this month, Mr Bruner said previous studies by Ryder Scott estimated that the basin could have 17 billion barrels of unrisked recoverable oil and 64 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Australian-listed Sinovus Mining, is also involved in the Paltar float.


July 04, 2011
The Australian


cheers!