The company made the announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday in a request for its shares to be placed in a trading halt.

Trading in its shares will be halted for two days, after which AED said it expected to make an announcement.

In January, AED said it had been approached by several international and Australian oil firms wanting to invest in its wholly-owned Puffin and Talbot oil fields in the Timor Sea.

The company has appointed Macquarie Group to review its business.

Two weeks ago, AED's share price doubled in nearly one day's trading despite the company having no good news to report.

AED responded to the ASX that it was unaware of any reason that could explain the movement in its share price from $1.50 on Thursday, February 15 to a high of $2.90 on Friday.

Its shares sank 42% last week to their lowest level since June 2006 after Norwegian oil services firm AGR Group said AED was overdue in paying an AGR subsidiary about $A41.5 million ($37.4 million).

The company's share price has also suffered since it became apparent the Puffin oil field in the Timor Sea was producing at significantly lower rates than expected.