Chairman John Towner said the company had secured interest from a few investors, which would have enabled the PNG-focused exploration company to achieve the minimum subscription required.

"However, this would have meant the issue of a supplementary prosects, a further extension of at least one month for the offer and with no guarantees," said Towner.

"As we had extended the offer once already, we have preferred not to create further uncertainty for those new investors who have applied for shares under the prospectus."

He said NGE was considering various options to generate value from the company's six petroleum prospecting licences in Papua New Guinea and would seek a public listing of the company at a later time.

NGE had planned to raise the funds through an IPO listing of 100 million shares at A50c per share on the Australian Securities Exchange.

This offer was originally scheduled to close on May 16, 2007 with shares planned for listing on May 30, 2006. It was subsequently extended to June 13 due to hold-ups with a cornerstone investor.

The company had originally planned to drill between three and six wells in the first half of 2008, initially focusing on oil and condensate prospects to establish early cash flow from either a trucking operation or a possible pipeline-to-port scenario if the size of discovery was large enough.