Geoffrey Albers has over 30 years experience as a director and administrator in corporate law, petroleum exploration and resource sector investment. He is a law graduate of the University of Melbourne and, after being admitted in 1969 as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, practiced commercial and corporate law in Victoria. Since the early 1980’s until 1991 he held a corporate practising certificate in keeping with his involvement in companies in which he holds a financial interest.

In 1978 Mr Albers first became involved in oil exploration. Companies associated with him applied for and were awarded exploration permits in the offshore Bass Basin. Exploration in one of these permits, T14P, led directly to the discovery of the Yolla Gas Condensate Field.

In the early 1980's Mr Albers became increasingly involved in oil and gas exploration in New Zealand, in 1981forming Cue Energy Resources Limited ("Cue Energy") of which he remains a Director. That company subsequently took a significant interest in the drilling of a number of offshore wells in New Zealand including the Maari Oilfield discovery wells, Moki-1 and Moki-2, and in Australia where Cue Energy participated in the discovery of the Yolla Gas Condensate Field. Cue Energy retained a 14% interest in the Yolla Retention Licence until 2001 when it sold the interest. More recently Cue Energy has focused its attention on Papua New Guinea, where it holds an interest in the unitised S E Gobe Oil Field development. In 2001 Cue Energy made the Oyong oil and gas discovery in offshore Indonesia.

In 1983, Mr Albers co-sponsored the formation of Southern Petroleum NL ("Southern") in New Zealand. Southern subsequently participated in the drilling of two offshore wells in deep water in the Great South Basin off the South Island, and in a number of wells in the offshore Taranaki Basin region. Southern subsequently farmed into the onshore Taranaki Basin and made the Tariki, Ahuroa and Waihapa oil and gas discoveries in the area. Mr Albers withdrew from the board of Southern after instigating a beneficial merger of Southern (as the parent entity) with Payzone Exploration Limited, a petroleum explorer sponsored by companies associated with Brierley Investments Limited who held similar interests. Southern became a successful producing company as a result of these discoveries, reaching a peak sharemarket valuation in excess of NZ$250 million before being taken over by the Fletcher Challenge group. It is now part of the Shell group.

In 1980 Mr Albers incorporated the Company and in the early 1990’s he acquired and reorganised the company now known as Strata Resources NL. These two companies formed Timor Sea Petroleum Pty Ltd ("TSP") as a joint venture company in 1994. TSP sought and in 1996 was ultimately awarded NT/P47 and NT/P48 in the Timor Sea, before entering into farmout and joint venture arrangements with Shell Development Australia Pty Ltd. 13,000 line kilometres of seismic were shot and two wells were drilled before mid 1998 by Shell as part of the farmin arrangement. One of the wells, Evans Shoal 2, proved up indicated a gas resource of approximately 6.6 TCF of gas, then one of the largest gasfields in Australia.

In 2000 Timor Sea Petroleum NL instituted a demerger scheme of arrangement whereby it distributed to its 2,500 shareholders the whole of the issued capital of a subsidiary, Natural Gas Australia Ltd ("NGA") holding all its oil and gas interests. Following the distribution of shares, NGA became listed on the ASX and, after increasing its interest in the Evans Shoal gasfield to 40% by a $50 million purchase from Shell, merged with Santos Ltd, with benefits to the shareholders of NGA.

TSP changed its name to Methanol Australia Limited and has since pursued a proposal for the development of a $2 billion gas processing plant on a man-made island adjacent to the Evans Shoal gasfield, 300kms north west of Darwin. The project has been granted "Major Project Facilitation Status" by the Australian government and has completed a detailed Environmental Impact Statement. MEO is presently seeking participation from joint venturers in this venture.

In 1998 Bass Strait Oil Company Ltd ("BSOC"), a company sponsored by Mr Albers, sought and was awarded Vic/P42, a petroleum exploration permit in the offshore Gippsland Basin. BSOC farmed out an interest in Vic/P42 to Inpex Corporation of Japan in a $22 million farmout transaction. Subsequently the Melville-1 well was drilled at a cost of (US)$11 million and a 420 kms² 3-D seismic survey at a cost of $4 million was shot. BSOC has recently completed a merger effected by a scheme of arrangement with Bass Strait Group NL ("BSG") under which it has acquired the latter company's interest in a 0.0648% overriding royalty interest over the Yolla Field in consideration for issuing shares to certain of the members of BSG on the cancellation of their shareholdings.

TOP

TOP