Energy World Corporation’s plans to ramp up operations in South Australia’s Cooper Basin got a boost after Strike Energy recorded encouraging gas readings recently. Strike Energy, a fully owned subsidiary of EWC , said a 15-metre coal seam had been cored between 1311 and 1326 metres. Gas was recorded from mud logs while coring and gas had been observed bleeding from the coal cores. Shares in EWC have struggled recently but shareholders are up about 10.1 per cent for the year to date. EWC shares climbed to 46.5¢ this month, but have since drifted back towards the 40¢ mark. The biggest move this year was in March when the share price leapt to 46.5¢ from 26¢ as the company hived off a chunk of its inter­national assets to Japan’s largest utility, Tokyo Gas. Since then though, momentum has been missing.