Company Profile

Key Petroleum Ltd (Key) was established to take advantage of international petroleum opportunities identified by the Company’s Directors, based on their many years of oil and gas industry experience and extensive network of contacts. They have placed emphasis on quality assets, in proven oil and gas regions and where early drilling opportunities had already been identified.

The Company also wanted the projects to be located in politically stable countries with attractive fiscal terms and, where possible, existing well built and operated, quality infrastructure.

The Company negotiated entry into the prospective Nyuni block, directly adjacent to the producing Songo Songo Gas Field, located offshore Tanzania, East Africa. The east coast of Tanzania has had a lot less activity when compared with the west coast of Africa but this allowed Key Petroleum to gain entry into a prospective area for a lower cost than would have been required for the western side of the continent.

This approach of the Company has now been rewarded with the success, in the early part of 2008, of the Kiliwani North #1 Well, where a 60m gross gas column was intersected in a separate accumulation of gas to that being produced at the Songo Songo Gas Field. Importantly, for Key Petroleum whose main aim is to grow, the gas from this well can be commercialised relatively quickly due to its close proximity to the Songo Songo gas processing facilities which are approximately 3.5 km away and which were brought on-stream in 2004.

Key Petroleum has further increased its presence in Tanzania by entering into a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and Ministry of Energy for an area directly to the west and adjacent to the producing Songo Songo Gas Field.  The area is classified by the Ministry as, "West Songo Songo". Key is the designated Operator of this block and is in a 50 / 50 joint venture with Aminex plc, the UK listed company, the Operator of the nearby Nyuni block, directly to the east of the Songo Songo Gas Field.

At the same time as entering into the Nyuni Joint Venture, Key Petroleum finalised agreements with Puma Petroleum Ltd, a UK operated company, to acquire all of its assets and interests in Italy which included both onshore and offshore exploration projects. Key has now been active in Italy since its listing on the ASX and it has converted Puma Petroleum Ltd into an Italian domiciled company, Puma Petroleum S.r.L. revitalizing it with a renewed branding, extensive promotion into the Italian oil and gas industry and the ongoing development of credibility with the various Ministries and Governmental institutions with which it is working closely to progress its projects. Key, through Puma Petroleum, is working to develop its Italian assets and has a number of local Italian specialists working on its projects, bringing valuable local knowledge and insight to them.

Key is also the 50% owner of Portsea Oil and Gas Pty Ltd. Portsea holds a 3.5% free carried interest through a drilling programme in 2 onshore blocks, Coronie and Uitkjik, in Suriname a country in the north of South America. This is in an area where the state owned energy company Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname NV has good quality infrastructure already installed that is operated by their skilled local workforce. Of the 5 wells drilled to date in the Uitkjik block, 3 have encountered hydrocarbons. Plans are now underway for the drilling of 5 wells in the Coronie block, to the west of the largest oil field in Suriname, Tambaredjo, believed to have 1 billion barrels of oil in place when first brought onstream in 1984.  This drilling phase is scheduled to commence in the last quarter of 2008.

In April 2008, in another part of the world, Key joined with Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL, an Australian listed company, in a Consortium Agreement to develop exploration opportunities in the West African country of Namibia, where Pancontinental are the holders of a Reconnaissance Licence (RL) over an offshore block in the Walvis Basin. The consortium has applied to the Ministry to have part of the Reconnaissance Licence (RL) converted into a Petroleum Agreement (PA) and an Exploration Licence (EL) issued.  Once converted, which is subject to governmental approval, Key will hold a 50% interest under the PA and EL.

The short term objective of the Company is to establish petroleum reserves from drilling that can be quickly brought into production. Key plans to continue with this approach and is continuously looking for other good quality projects that can provide the Company with growth and financial strength. Key Petroleum's longer term corporate goal, guided by an experienced, multi-skilled Board, financial advisers and a strong technical team, is to create an integrated upstream oil and gas exploration and production company.