Bonaparte Basin

Under the terms of an agreement with Beach Energy Limited , Somerton has options to acquire up to an 18% interest in onshore tenements EP 126 and EPA 138 and up to an 10% interest in offshore tenements EPA 135 and NTC/P10.

The acreage is considered by Somerton to be primarily prospective for unconventional gas and petroleum liquids within organically rich and thermally mature shale.  Although relatively unexplored, previous drilling has proven the presence of working petroleum systems in the area, primarily through the discovery of conventional oil and gas accumulations in the onshore and shallow water offshore portions of the basin.

The planned program in the onshore tenements is geophysical surveys in 2012, to be followed by two deep wells in 2013.