Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

26 Feb 2007 07:03

Ascent Resources PLC26 February 2007 Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas Ascent Resources plc ("Ascent" or the "Company") Acquires Nemmoco Slovenia Corporation ("NSC") Ascent Resources plc, the AIM-traded European oil and gas exploration andproduction company, has acquired the entire share capital of Nemmoco SloveniaCorporation for an initial consideration of €150,000 payable in Ascent shares.NSC's assets include a 45% interest and operatorship of the Joint Venture thatowns the development rights to the Petisovci Dolina ("P-D") oil and gas fieldsand a 15.75% interest and operatorship of the Joint Venture that owns thedevelopment rights to the underlying Petisovci Globoki ("P-G") gasfield. Thefields are in eastern Slovenia near Lendava, close to the borders of Slovenia,Austria, Hungary and Croatia. The oil and gas fields, which were originally discovered in 1942, currentlyproduce minor amounts of oil and gas. However both P-D and P-G are thought tohave substantial additional reserves as assessed respectively by independentconsultants APA Petroleum Engineering of Calgary, Canada and Troy-Ikoda ofWindsor, UK. Remaining proven plus probable ("2P") oil reserves in the P-Dreservoirs are estimated to be 10.7 million barrels. Gas in place in the deeperP-G reservoirs is estimated to be, at a P50 (50% probability) level, 579 Bcf. In the deeper P-G gas field, one of the Joint Venture partners, Grove EnergyLimited (AIM:GRV; currently under offer to merge with Stratic EnergyCorporation, TSX-V:SE) reported gas initially in place of 579 Bcf. Under theterms of a 2004 farm-in, Grove drilled the D-14 well at its sole cost. Afterthree hydraulic fracture stimulation treatments the well produced only minor gasand water. Grove returned to the well in 2006 and deepened it to the main gasproducing E-1 reservoir. Although this E-1 interval had strong gas shows, thewell did not produce from an open-hole test and the well was suspended without afracture stimulation. The consideration for the purchase of NSC is €150,000 payable in Ascent sharesat the average price over 30 days immediately prior to execution. This is680,205 shares at 14.82p. Additionally, there is deferred payment calculated onthe basis of the volume of the future sales gas produced. Ascent's Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "This project has the potential toprovide Ascent with substantial additional reserves. Development infrastructureis already in place, and so remaining reserves could be developed at highly costeffective levels. Importantly the deferred payment substantially de-risks theproject for the Company." * * ENDS * * For further information visit www.ascentresources.co.uk or contact: Jeremy Eng Ascent Resources plc Tel: 020 7251 4905 Hugo de Salis St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477 Notes Ascent Resources has a portfolio of 20 oil and gas projects now across sixcountries in Europe. The projects are onshore in Italy, Switzerland, Hungary,Spain, Slovenia and offshore Netherlands. Ascent is at present drilling aprogramme of six exploration wells. Two have already been drilled in Hungary,one of which was a gas discovery. The Anagni-1 well, first of two Italianwells, has been temporarily completed for future deepening and testing and therig is now being assembled on the location of the first of two wells in Spain.Later in 2007, two more gas exploration wells are to be drilled in Hungary, highimpact gas exploration wells are planned in the Po Valley in Italy, and one wellin Switzerland, subject to permitting and rig availability. Ascent operates Spain's only onshore oilfield where production currentlyaverages over 100 barrels of oil per day. With the stable European gas market, Ascent's portfolio favours gas over oiland, with the exception of the Netherlands, all of its projects are locatedonshore where operating and development costs are substantially lower than theyare offshore. Nemmoco Joint Venture Partner Groups in Slovenia P-D Reservoirs P-G Reservoirs NSC 45% NSC 15.75% Loon Energy 30% Loon Energy 10.50% Geoenergo 25% Geoenergo 25.00% Grove Energy 48.75% Slovenian Reserves Estimates: Standard to: World Petroleum Congress (WPC)/ Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nemmoco estimates of recoverable reserves from the P-D reservoirs as assessed byAPA Petroleum Engineering of Calgary Canada, as of January 1st, 2003: Probablistic totals of all reservoir intervals 1P (Proven) Oil 6.7 MMstb Gas 0.04 Bcf 2P (Probable) Oil 10.7 MMstb Gas 0.70 Bcf 3P (Possible) Oil 17.7 MMstb Gas 3.70 Bcf Estimates of Gas-Initially-in-Place by Troy-Ikoda Limited - Windsor, UK, May2004 Probabalistic Gas-Initially-in-Place, Bcf Proven Reservoirs: P90 P50 P10 D 33.06 70.54 145.14 E-1 51.12 88.15 149.73 Untested Reservoirs P90 P50 P10 A 52.71 104.11 172.70 B 90.24 164.93 267.61 C 41.29 73.68 119.40 E-2 44.45 77.55 122.92 Totals of Proven and Untested Reservoirs: P90 P50 P10 312.87 578.96 977.50 Glossary: MMstb millions of stock tank barrels Bcf billions of cubic feet of gas at standard temperature andpressure P90 90% probablility of the volumes present exceeding thisamount P50 50% probablility of the volumes present exceeding thisamount P10 10% probablility of the volumes present exceeding thisamount This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange