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After more than two-and-a-half years on the junior market explorer Hardy Oil & Gas (HDY) has graduated to the main list as it embarks on a drilling campaign with the potential to triple the stock in value.

Explaining the rationale behind the decision, finance director Dinesh Dattani says: ‘We made a commitment to shareholders last year that we would move to the main market and it should certainly raise our profile and improve liquidity. If you look at the size of the exploration programme the timing is more or less perfect.’

The company has production and exploration acreage in India and two development assets in Nigeria. It is planning to spud ten exploration wells offshore India in 2008. The key wells will be on Block D9 in the prolific KG basin – Reliance is the operator with a 90% interest, Hardy has 10%. They are targeting huge prospects, ranging from 13 to 19 trillion cubic feet of gas, with the first well due to be drilled in the latter part of the year, work has been delayed somewhat by a lack of available deep water rigs.

The group currently has around $32 million in the bank but its commitments this year will require up to $100 million – the biggest component of this is taken up by exploration and appraisal work on block CY-OS/2. However, the company currently has 75% equity in the project and is considering farming out on this acreage. Broker RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage on the stock earlier this month with an ‘outperform’ rating and a target price of 750p, well above the current 595p. Analyst Nathan Piper says: ‘Hardy gives investors access to high-impact exploration led by an experienced Indian management team in a politically stable burgeoning gas market.’