The final phase in the dismantling of United Energy has begun following approval of the Scheme of Arrangement with Alinta by the Supreme Court of Victoria. Amity Oil has subsequently profited from United's demise, and its own hard work, by taking UEL's place in the S&P-ASX 200 index.
Amity is now diverting its attention from Turkey momentarily in order to spud the much-anticipated Whicher Range-5 well in September.
The Carnarvon Basin has provided no luck for the Kilauea-1 well joint venture and the Woodside operated WA-4-L joint venture (Carteret-1), with both wells being plugged and abandoned.
In contrast Beach Petroleum has shown that there is life in the old horse yet with the Christies-1 well being cased and completed ready for oil production from the Cooper Basin.
Victoria Petroleum maintained the resurgence of interest in the Cooper Basin by completing a farm-out of PEL 104 which will leave the company with a free carried 40% interest in the permit.
Eastern Star Gas confirmed the viability of its NSW gas field following an offer from Country Energy for a 10 year Power Purchase Agreement. Australian Worldwide Exploration (AWE) also entered into a deal with Strike Oil to participate in an appraisal of the Casino gas field, located in Vic P/44, offshore Otway Basin, Victoria.
Origin Energy has made an off market bid to acquire the 15% in Oil Company of Australia (OCA) it doesn't already own with a cash offer of $4.25 per share. Santos is waiting for the independent auditors report before acceding to the buy-out.
McConnell Dowell Constructors (MDC) said it would resort to arbitration in order to receive its proper contract entitlements after entering into a dispute with Environmental Infrastructure Limited (EIL) who have alleged that MDC has failed to fulfill a contract.
A former vice-president (exploration) of Drillsearch Energy subsidiary Circumpacific Energy Corporation and five other minor shareholders have launched legal action against the company for alleged shareholder oppression.
David Reeves, president of the North America Products Company, ChevronTexaco, has been appointed to succeed Jeet Bindra as managing director and chief executive officer of Caltex Australia.
Coinciding with Alan Greenspan's call for greater US access to overseas gas Qatar Petroleum and ConocoPhillips have signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) for the development of Qatargas 3, a large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) project located in Qatar servicing the U.S. natural gas market.
