Cue Energy shares on a trading halt

Former "penny dreadful" firm Cue Energy today had its shares placed on a trading halt ahead of a placement of shares on NZX, the sharemarket operator said.

NZX granted the halt, effective from the start of trade today, it said in a statement.

"The halt is requested to last for up to 48 hours, but may well be for a lesser period," the statement said.

No other details were immediately available.

Earlier this week, Cue confirmed it had bought a stake in one of the Taranaki Basin's biggest undeveloped oil fields, which it hopes will start producing oil within two years.

It has paid $6.7 million to take a 5 per cent stake in the Maari field, which it said was the "largest undeveloped offshore oil field in New Zealand".

A development decision on the field, which is 80km offshore and under a water depth of 100m, is expected to be made in April.

Oil was due to start flowing in the second quarter of 2007.

European energy giant OMV owns 69 per cent of the Maari oil field and is the operator. Todd owns 16 per cent and Australian company Horizon Oil has 10 per cent.

- NZPA