Agriterra Ld Regulatory News (AGTA)

5 Jul 2007 13:59

White Nile Limited05 July 2007 White Nile Ltd / Ticker: WNL / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil & Gas 5th July 2007 White Nile Ltd ('White Nile' or 'the Company') Update on Activity White Nile Ltd, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration company, is pleased toannounce an update on it activities in Ethiopia, where it has a Joint StudyAgreement with the Ethiopian Government's Petroleum Operations Division, overthe prospective East African Rift system in the southwest of the country. The Company's area of interest is in Southern Ethiopia in the area known as theSouthern Rift Basins. As part of the exploration programme, ground geophysicalsurveys, including magneto-tellurics and gravity, have now been completed in theOmo River area to the north of Lake Turkana. This data is being used todetermine basin disposition and depth in this critical area of interferencebetween three proven petroliferous basin trends known as the Turkana Depression.Early results of the interpretation are encouraging and have revealed deepbasins, potentially containing sedimentary section similar to that of thepetroliferous Muglad and Melut Basins of Southern Sudan. The next stage in the development of the Company's Ethiopian project is tofinalise the interpretation of the data collected, which will identifying theareas that White Nile wishes to translate into a PSA. Following this the Companywill design a reconnaissance 2D seismic programme to identify drill targets. Additionally, White Nile would like to update the market on developments inSouthern Sudan in relation to Block Ba. Company Chairman Phil Edmonds recentlyreturned from a meeting in Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan, where he metwith the Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan ("GOSS"), Dr RiekMachar, and Paul Mayom, the Minister of Interior and Chairman of Nile PetroleumCorp ("NilePet"), the Government of Southern Sudan's state owned petroleumcompany. Both the Vice President and the Chairman of Nilepet were members of theJoint Executive Committee of Northern and Southern Sudanese representativesrecently convened to discuss oil and other issues in Sudan as a whole. Both menconfirmed the proposed formation of a new oil consortium with regard to Block Bin Southern Sudan comprising NilePet, White Nile, Total SA, Kuwait ForeignPetroleum Exploration Company and Sudan National Petroleum Corporation ("SudaPet"), the state owned oil company of northern Sudan. NilePet is White Nile's largest shareholder with 155 million shares and has tworepresentatives on the Company's board. Its chairman has requested that a WhiteNile board meeting be convened in Juba at the earliest opportunity, followed bya meeting with NilePet to discuss matters relating to further strengthening therelationship between NilePet and White Nile. One item on the agenda will be thefast tracking of the strategy of the two parties to work more closely to createan oil company focussed on Southern Sudan and the immediate region. White Nile Chairman Phil Edmonds said, "Exploration in Ethiopia is part of WhiteNile's strategy of building a regional oil company focussed on Southern Sudanand neighbouring countries. These recent results are encouraging and thegeological similarities with White Nile's areas of activity in Southern Sudanare increasing our levels of confidence in the prospectivity of our project areain Ethiopia. "As part of our expansion policy, we are working closely with the GOSS and NilePet, to broaden our areas of activity in Southern Sudan and the immediateregion. NilePet is White Nile's major shareholder and with the strong workingrelationship I believe we can fulfil our expansion objectives. With access tothe world's capital markets, White Nile can provide the international investmentthat is crucial in the development of both our Company and NilePet in becomingmajor entities within our mutual areas of interest and beyond." * * E N D S * * For further information please visit www.whitenile-ltd.com or contact: Phil Edmonds White Nile Ltd Tel: 0845 108 6060Jonathan Wright Seymour Pierce Ltd Tel: 020 7107 8000Hugo de Salis St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange