Rawson said the capital raising, involving the placement of 10 million shares at 10c each, would be used for additional working capital.

The first tranche of 2 million shares have already been issued, with the remaining 8 million to be issued following shareholder approval at an upcoming meeting.

Late last month, the company said its technical team has “clearly” identified three potential oil and gas prospects from an assessment of all available seismic, gravity and well data in EP 97 exploration permit in central Australia’s Perdirka Basin.

Rawson said it was inviting farm-in parties to help drill these three seismic grids on a prospect-by-prospect basis.

Early this week, the company announced that Central Petroleum had farmed into Rawson’s Pedirka blocks. Central also has acreage in the Pedirka and the two companies believe there will be synergies in aligning their drilling campaigns.

The company is committed to drilling its first well in 2008, with possible additional seismic surveys and reprocessing later this year over the three plays.