“The royalty interest was created by a deed of assignment and grant of royalty dated 19 March 1986 made between First Australian Resources NL et al and Amoco Australia Petroleum Company (Amoco) and South Australian Oil & Gas Corporation Pty Limited (SAOG) pursuant to which a participating interest in T18P was assigned in exchange for an over-riding royalty interest”, said a FAR statement yesterday.

FAR said it had notified each of the current participants of the royalty interest and was waiting on their responses.

It said it was in receipt of correspondence dated 1993 from SAGASCO (now Origin Energy Resources Limited, operator of the T18P joint venture) accepting liability in respect of its obligation under the deed. It had 85% equity at that time.

FAR chairman Michael Evans said “We don’t want to be seen to be opportunistic but we’ve got real hurt money in here. We’re pleased to be in this position after all this time.

FAR acquired its interest in T18P from the Forsyth exploration entity which then formed the basis of the First Australian Resources float.