Subject to successful capital raising and listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, Rawson will drill up to three exploration wells on the Cooper Basin, South Australia lease on a “no discovery, no earn” basis. It must drill a minimum of one well and conduct a geochemical survey to select the best site for the first well.

Rawson will earn a 50% interest in any production licenses should any of the wells result in a commercial discovery. But it will not earn any interest in exploration acreage in the lease, and if no commercial discoveries result from the drilling the farmin will lapse with Rawson holding no residual interests.

“The PEL 107 joint venture sees the Rawson farmin agreement as providing an extra layer of activity, supplementing its current exploration campaign focused on traps adjacent to the Lake Hope oil fields flankng the margins of the highly prospective Patchawarra Trough,” Great Artesian said in a statement.

“As part of this campaign, drilling of the first of two back-to-back oil exploration wells in PEL 107 is anticipated to commence in early June 2005 using Century Rig 3.”

The Kiana-1 and Tyringa-1 wells will drill shallow, relatively low-risk targets near existing pipelines and the Spencer, Spencer West and Muteroo oil fields.

These two wells are part of Great Artesian’s planned greater focus on oil exploration this year. The company will be involved in six wells in its permit areas. Discussions are also continuing on details of the proposed gas production later this year from the Smegsy gas field owned by Great Artesian and Enterprise Energy.