Aminex Regulatory News (AEX)

3 Apr 2006 07:02

Aminex PLC03 April 2006 3 APRIL 2006 AMINEX PLC EAST AFRICAN PROGRESS FURTHER FARMOUT OF NYUNI LICENCE IN TANZANIA Aminex PLC ("Aminex"), the oil and gas company listed in London and Dublin, ispleased to announce that it has signed a Farmout Agreement with East AfricanExploration Limited ("EAX"), a Dubai-based oil and gas exploration company. The Farmout Agreement provides for EAX to earn into part of Aminex's Nyunilicence, offshore Tanzania by acquiring new "transition zone" 2D seismic overArea "B" of the licence. Area "A" of the Nyuni licence in Tanzania was partlyfarmed out to East Coast Energy last year. Splitting the licence remainssubject to approval by the Government of Tanzania. EAX may further increase its interest by arranging the acquisition of 3D seismicover the same area, if appropriate, after review of the first stage programme.330 kilometres of new conventional 2D marine seismic was acquired over this areaby Aminex in 2005 and the additional transition zone seismic to be acquired byEAX will add significant value to the existing data. Transition zone seismicinvolves special equipment to conduct seismic surveys in extremely shallowmarine environments not accessible to a conventional seismic vessel. This isparticularly important at Nyuni where the majority of the potential drillinglocations underlie shoals, limestone reefs and small islands, many of which arepartly submerged at high tide. EAX will acquire 2D transition zone data to a value of $2 million to earn aninterest of 15% in Area "B" of the Nyuni licence. Subject to a review of the 2Dtransition zone dataset, EAX will have the option to finance the acquisition ofprospect-specific 3D transition zone seismic to a value of $4 million, to earnan additional 30% interest in Area "B". In the event that the Government ofTanzania does not approve the split of the Nyuni licence into Areas "A" and "B",EAX will earn 10% of the entire licence area by shooting 2D transition zoneseismic rather than 15% of the smaller "B" area. Similarly, by shooting 3Dtransition zone seismic EAX will earn a further 20% interest in the entirelicence area rather than 30% of the smaller "B" area. The transition zone seismic and, if necessary, 3D seismic will be acquiredduring the second and third quarters of 2006 with the aim of firming up drillingtargets for exploration wells. The seismic crew will use state-of-the artSercel 428 TZ equipment and a custom-designed fleet of handling vessels. The Government of Tanzania has formally consented to the introduction of EAX asa farm-in partner to the Nyuni licence. KENYA OFFSHORE UPDATE On 14 March 2006, Aminex announced that it had entered into a seismic optionagreement with Upstream Petroleum Services Ltd. ("UPSL") over blocks L9 and L10offshore Kenya. Aminex confirms that under UPSL's Technical EvaluationAgreement, 570 kms of new 2D seismic have now been acquired over the area andgeochemical seabed coring and additional seismic on prospective leads will beacquired in the next 2 months. The area covered by this agreement is around5,000 square kilometres, involving the land and near shore acreage of originalKenyan Blocks L9 and L10. The remainder of Block L9 is licensed to other groupsand the deepwater portion of L10 is currently open. Commenting on the further Nyuni farm-out, Aminex Chief Executive Brian Hallsaid: "We are very pleased to welcome EAX as a new partner in our offshore Nyuniacreage. EAX and its sister company Upstream Petroleum Services Limited, ourpartner in Kenya, will make a valuable contribution to the joint venture'stechnical work. The transition zone seismic and, if required, 3D seismic arethe final steps in firming up new drillable exploration prospects in the Nyunilicence area." Further info: Brian Hall Chief Executive, Aminex +44 (0) 20 7240 1600 Archie Berens Pelham Public Relations +44 (0) 20 7743 6679 or +44 (0)7802 442486 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange