Excitement welling for high-impact exploration BARRY FITZGERALD...

Excitement welling for high-impact exploration BARRY FITZGERALD
March 8, 2010 .
There is nothing the punters in oil and gas stocks like more than the drilling of a high-impact exploration well. AWE demonstrated that on Friday, when it confirmed it was about to spud the Hoki-1 exploration well (50 per cent interest and operator) in New Zealand's offshore Taranaki Basin.

It's a 250 million-barrel (recoverable) oil target which, if it comes in, would be transformational for AWE, even with its $1.39 billion market capitalisation. So what did the simple fact that Hoki-1 was about to be spud do to AWE's share price?

It popped a handy 12, or 4.7 per cent, higher to $2.67 a share. And locally listed 10 per cent partner in Hoki-1, New Zealand Oil & Gas (ASX:NZO), put on 2, or 1.7 per cent, to close at $1.19 for the day.