The company's independent directors – all directors other than IFM nominees – recommended that shareholders accept IFM's offer, in the absence of a superior proposal.

Another ASX-listed renewable energy player, Europe-focused Novera, has announced it would be raising A$13 million to fund a new wind farm acquisition. The company said the raising was part of its listing on the London AIM exchange. The funds raised from the listing are for financing Novera's share of the balance of the Germania wind asset pipeline, development of some UK projects and development of certain acquisitions under consideration by the company, according to Novera. The AIM listing is expected to occur on 10 June.

Meanwhile, hot rocks explorer Geodynamics claims its purchase of Cooper Basin geothermal permit GEL 99 from Scopenergy Limited gives it the prime position in "known hot fractured rock geothermal resources" in Australia. The company acquired the Cooper Basin permit for 375,000 fully paid shares in Geodynamics. GEL 99 covers an area of 496 square kilometres around the Moomba oil and gas processing plant and there are potential opportunities for supplying steam and/or power to this plant, according to Geodynamics.

In the oil patch, industry sources are tipping Shell to sell its New Zealand petroleum assets and leave the Land of the Long White Cloud. Potential bidders are already sizing up Shell's New Zealand exploration and production interests, particularly its major stakes in the commercial Pohokura, Maui and Kapuni fields, industry sources told EnergyReview.net. They expect Shell to announce its intention to leave the NZ EP industry on or after the completion of the NZ$1 billion Pohokura development scheduled for mid-2006.

Back in Australia, Woodside has given another signal it has prioritised the development of a new Browse Basin hub by confirming that Broome, not Derby, is its preferred site for the onshore gas plant for processing the area’s gas. It looks as if a Timor Sea boundary deal will be finalised soon, but the horse has bolted – Woodside has switched focus from the Greater Sunrise field to an LNG facility to develop the Scott Reef and Brecknock gas fields in the Browse Basin. Happy days for the booming West Australian gas industry. Not so good for East Timor, one of the world’s poorest nations.

Elsewhere in the west, Arc Energy has consolidated its presence as a competitive and material gas supplier to the south-west market, after signing a $20 million-plus four-year gas supply deal with Western Power. Australian Pipeline Trust picked up the shipping contract, worth an estimated $2 million to $5 million over the four year term. The gas will be for the ultimate use of brickmaker Austral Bricks whom Arc currently supplies direct.

On the other side of the country, Queensland Gas Company and partner Pangaea Oil & Gas have been boosted by the news that coalbed methane reserves in tenements around the Lauren-3 well may have been greatly understated. QGC issued the statement following increased gas production from Lauren-3 in ATP 620P. The well accesses only the deeper Taroom coal seams and has flowed gas at 509,000 cubic feet per day (cfd), averaging 446,000 cfd over the past week. To date only the Juandah gas reserves have been certified. QGC estimates that the increase in recoverable gas could be as high as 30%.

Another Queensland CBM player, Molopo, said it had started production testing two new wells at its Bindaree/Harcourt field in the Bowen Basin, as well as bringing on line three development wells on the Mungi CBM field.

South of the border, at the South Casino field in northern NSW, CBM explorer Metgasco reports that its first well is producing gas and significant volumes of free gas have been observed during clean-up at its recently completed third well. All wells drilled to date have encountered gas-bearing coals and the company said it was pleased with the early gas flows.

In the US, the three Perth-based petroleum minnows – Sun Resources, Victoria Petroleum and Aurora Oil & Gas – teamed together at the onshore Texas gas project, Flour Bluff, report the BG Webb-1 well has been completed and flow tested, delivering flow rates of between 1.5-2.1 million cubic feet per day. The well will be brought on production following completion of the short additional pipeline required to add this well in to existing field infrastructure. Commercial production from this well is expected to start in about four weeks.

In Oklahoma, ASX-listed Antares Energy has encountered gas pay at its Ellis-3 well, proving up a larger area of the field and making the company increasingly optimistic that the Ellis project will give it a cashflow in the hundreds of millions of dollars. With two good producing zones and more than 20 potential drilling locations, the Ellis field could eventually produce $250m worth of gas at today's US gas prices, the company said. Antares has already established commercial production from Ellis-1 and 2, so Ellis-3 can be quickly put into production.

In the UK, Elixir Petroleum has farmed out 60% of one of its northern North Sea Blocks to Norwegian group, DNO ASA, to test the Upper and Middle Jurassic zones on the Brtish side of the North Sea median line. An analogous play has been proven on the Norwegian side of the median line. Elixir will retain a final 40% interest in the block.

In contract engineering news, the Ausclad Group of Companies (AGC) has secured a contract to construct the Arrowsmith Separation Plant for Roc Oil, operator of the Cliff Head Project for the WA-286-P joint venture partners. The project starts this month, construction and commissioning are due for completion in mid December, and contract completion is planned for January 2006.

Another contractor, construction support specialist PCH Group has successfully followed the offshore growth path favoured by some Australian E&P firms, with more than half its revenues coming from overseas - mainly oil and gas – projects. The company predicted oil and gas activity for the next decade or so would remain strong. In addition to the upcoming additional work, PCH has also set its sights on the giant, recently approved Kashagan field in the northern Caspian. While there will be little work at Kashagan for another 12 months or so, construction activity is likely to last for more than 10 years.

In finance news, West African oil and gas explorer Baraka Petroleum Ltd debuted on the Australian Stock Exchange at a discount to its issue price. Baraka opened its first ASX session at 18 cents and closed at 17.5 cents with 18.1 million shares changing hands. Its recent initial public offer closed oversubscribed, raising $17 million through 85 million shares at 20 cents. The company has put together one of the largest oil and gas portfolios in West Africa.

A British company with many Australian investors, Regal Petroleum, has seen its Grecian earn crumble into ruins. The AIM-listed company spiked on the back of a Greek oil discovery and traded at over £5.00 in early March. But it but has been savaged recently on disappointing drilling results, closing last week under 90 pence with £220 million being wiped off its market value.