In a great vote of confidence for the company, Intersuisse Corporate will arrange and manage the underwriting of the exercise of Essential's 1 December 2002, 20 cent, fully paid share options.

The junior oil and gas explorer, which focuses primarily on identifying oil and gas resources in onshore and off shore Otway Basin, raised $7.5 million last February when it listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

"The support for the conversion of the 1 December 2002 options will place the company in a strong position to further its offshore and onshore exploration program, which has made excellent progress in the past 18 months," Essential said in a statement to the market.