Chairman David Newman is reported as having told shareholders at the 2004 annual meeting in Wellington on Friday that the company would certainly be looking for further funds within the next two years, maybe earlier, as Austral’s major opportunities lay in drilling the large deep-gas prospects identified using new geotechnical-geophysical methods.
“Exploring these is an expensive matter, yet the rewards are potentially enormous for a company such as Austral Pacific,” Newman said.
Austral Pacific listed on the New Zealand Exchange and Canadian Toronto Venture Exchange last January after raising NZ$8.8 million through an IPO and warrant offer.
One of its large deep-gas prospects due to be drilled later this year is the possible 1tcf Cardiff prospect in onshore Taranaki licence PEP 38738.
Meanwhile, Austral today announced that its shallow Miocene Honeysuckle-1 well, in PEP 38741, had reached its target depth of 1710m and electric logs were being run to confirm the presence of any hydrocarbons encountered.
