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Perfect time to buy Cooper

IN THE wake of two exploration failures, Cooper Energy shares have been oversold by investors, ch...

Perfect time to buy Cooper

Part of this reaction was due to a misconception among some industry observers that Cooper was primarily an exploration play, he said.

While the company has exploration permits in Indonesia and Tunisia, it also has substantial production from seven Cooper Basin oil fields and more than a million barrels in P50 reserves.

Production was more than 250,000 barrels last year and is expected to be about 350,000bbl this year, according to Scott.

Cooper is expecting to earn $35 million in revenue this year.

"We are forecasting record reserves, production and revenue this year, yet our share price has fallen," he said.

The company is currently trading at about 55c but broker and analyst Euroz has set a three-month price target of 79c.

Scott said once cash equivalents and developed reserves were taken into account, there was little exploration upside included in Cooper's share price, yet he believed the company's exploration permits had significant value.

Tunisia in particular had great potential and Cooper has identified a large number of targets with potential sizes of between 20 million barrels and 350 million barrels, according to Scott.

The company's 100%-held Bargou PSC is a shallow-water block where seismic has identified a large number of attractive and sizeable prospects, he said.

Cooper aims to acquire further seismic this year and finalise a farm-out, then drill a well next year.

The Hammamet PSC (35% Cooper) already holds an oil discovery, the Tazerka oil field, which still has undrilled compartments and residual oil.

In addition, Cooper and operator Storm Ventures International of Canada have identified a prospect, Fuschia, and expect to select a drilling target in the third quarter of this year.

"Rig availability work is ongoing with several potential slots identified next year," Scott said.

Back in Australia, the company's Cooper Basin heartland is still delivering new finds, including the recent Callawonga and Parsons wells in Beach Petroleum-operated PEL 92.

"PEL92 is proving to be a prolific hydrocarbon area with five oil fields discovered to date," Scott said.

"The JV has agreed to shoot further 3D seismic this year in order to mature prospects for the next phase of drilling. We plan to drill two exploration wells in the permit next year."

While the two dry holes in its Indonesian blocks have had a big impact on cooper's share price, Scott said the market had overreacted and there was still value in Cooper's two Indonesian blocks.

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