HDY - Good stock find?

Hyperdynamics (HDY)

A small company that hasn't yet hit any of the analysts radar to amp up the stock price. A little risky but looks like a good bet. Any comments?

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In West Africa, perhaps the most underexplored oil and gas region remaining in the world today, a tiny Texas exploration and production firm is poised to become a big player.
Hyperdynamics, a Sugar Land, Texas, firm with an $80 million market cap, is preparing a drilling program for a 31,000 square-mile offshore mineral leasehold it controls through an agreement signed last year with the Republic of Guinea.

The area -- the size of South Carolina -- is larger than that of any other company in the region, including integrated giants such as Total, Devon and Petrobras, according to IHS, an energy-information-gathering firm.

A large oil or gas discovery there could quickly propel Hyperdynamics from being a small unknown firm into the oil and gas big leagues. A litany of challenges, including a long history of political unrest in Guinea that has largely kept foreign investors and the big players away, makes the transition a difficult one. Still, the company is optimistic.

"So far we have found some extremely good-looking sections," says Bob Bearnth, a geophysicist who helped originate the Guinea project for Hyperdynamics. "The acreage in offshore Guinea clearly has the potential for world-class oil and gas reserves."