The company said proceeds from the capital raising will be used to fund the continued development of its key projects and working capital including the remaining equity requirement for the Longtom gas field, the acceleration of long lead-time items and further progress towards project sanction and completion of FID process at Crux by late 2008.

The funds would also be used for other exploration and appraisal initiatives including three high-impact offshore exploration wells in Victoria, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Nexus managing directory Ian Tchacos announced the plan to roll out near-field exploration at the Excellence in Oil & Gas Conference in Sydney on Monday afternoon.

The institutional placement will be carried out by way of a bookbuild to institutional and other non-retail investors, both domestically and offshore.