Finder concentrates on under-explored areas with poor seismic coverage and/or poor data that have potential because they have been overlooked by other operators.

The company, established in June this year, has already secured interests in exploration blocks in the southern UK sector of the North Sea and offshore Jamaica.

Most recently it was the successful sole bidder for AC/P36 in the Ashmore Cartier sector of the northern Browse Basin off northwestern Australia. Still on the waiting list is an application submitted for a Taranaki Basin permit (38496) offshore North Island, New Zealand.

Finder's expertise lies in seismic imaging and reprocessing. This, along with its global outlook, stems from the technical ability and experience of the company’s two founders, Jan Ostby and Od Arne Larsen. Just recently the team has been strengthened with the appointment of former Woodside geologist Darius Jablonsky as exploration manager.

Ostby and Larsen began their geophysical/geological careers in the North Sea during the early 1980s and have subsequently worked in petroleum provinces all over the world. Both have been in Australia for 14 years and it is in Perth that they first came together.

Ostby joined a company called Petroleum Geoservices (PGS) in April 1992 while Larsen initially worked in Australia for Schlumberger before joining PGS a short time later. In the second half of the 1990s they went out on their own and established a geophysical contracting company called Seismic Australia.

In 2000 they sold their company to international operator Fugro in a deal that bound them to Fugro for five years. The five-year ‘bond’ expired in mid-2005.

During their work around the world, Ostby and Larsen realised that in many instances clients concentrated on the geologically simple areas, or at least those that had few structural complications. The more difficult regions to unravel seismically were passed over and to Ostby and Larsen’s way of thinking this often meant some structural settings of interest were ignored.

The two men knew that modern seismic imaging could improve old data and they developed a scheme to apply this new technology and their skills to areas overlooked in the past. Hence Finder Exploration’s philosophy is to try and put a new slant on carefully selected areas that offer hidden promise.

In many cases permits in these out-of-favour areas can be secured with relatively inexpensive work program bids. Finder aims to pick up high initial interests, then add value with seismic reprocessing and re-interpretation before farming out a sufficient percentage to carry the company through the drilling phase.

Ostby says he will consider most areas of the world, including onshore areas. The only places Finder will steer away from are the former Soviet Union and the Middle East, which offer few of the opportunities the company is seeking and are often difficult for small operators.

Of the eight blocks secured so far, three are in Quadrant 47 of the southern gas basin of the North Sea and close to the region’s central gas hub. Reprocessing of existing 3D data in these blocks has already begun.

Four more are contiguous areas in the Walton Basin offshore Jamaica where Miocene reef carbonates have distorted and weakened the seismic signals in earlier surveys, producing a vague image of the subsurface.

Here Finder Exploration is in joint venture with Melbourne-based Gippsland Offshore Petroleum. The two companies are currently finalising a production sharing contract and hope to begin reprocessing work early in the New Year.

The eighth permit, AC/P36 in Australia’s northern Browse Basin, was awarded 100% to Finder early this month. Finder was the only bidder. Again the intention is to begin by reprocessing the existing data to determine potential leads.

The company is optimistic that the Taranaki, New Zealand permit will be also granted before the end of this year, after which it will be time to consolidate the portfolio.

There are no immediate plans to list the company on the ASX. Rather, the plan is to work on the acreage and build up a marketable story for the possibility of going public some time in the future.