Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

19 Mar 2007 07:04

Ascent Resources PLC19 March 2007 Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas Ascent Resources plc ("Ascent" or the "Company") Increase interest in the Frosinone Exploration Permit, Italy Ascent Resources plc, the European focused oil and gas exploration andproduction company, has agreed with its partner Pentex Italia Limited toincrease the Company's interest in the Frosinone Exploration Permit (the "Permit") in Italy from 70% to 80%. The interest in the Permit will be transferred toAscent's wholly owned Italian subsidiary, Ascent Resources Italia s.r.l. whowill be appointed by Pentex, the Permit operator, to be the Principal Contractorand in due course, Ascent Resources Italia s.r.l. will become the operator ofthe Permit. The Frosinone Exploration Permit is in the Latina Valley 80 km south-east ofRome where the Company spudded the Anagni-1 well at the end of 2006 andannounced it as an oil discovery on January 29th 2007. Ascent plans to evaluatethe oil discovery, with operations scheduled to re-start in April 2007 when therig returns from Spain where it is currently drilling the Hontomin-4 appraisalwell. The consideration for the increased interest in the Permit will be satisfied incash and €300,000 (£204,954.43) in Ascent ordinary shares at 14.73p per share(Ascent's average share price over 10 days immediately before execution).Additionally, Ascent will pay Pentex's 20% share of the costs for evaluating theAnagni-1 oil discovery, which will include deepening, testing and furtherseismic surveys. Ascent Managing Director Jeremy Eng said. "The discovery of oil at Anagni-1 wasa very important event for the Company and it changes our priorities for theexploration of the area. Our aim is to re-deploy resources to accelerate theevaluation of the discovery and through proving reserves, attribute true valueto the discovery." * * ENDS * * For further information visit www.ascentresources.co.uk or contact: Jeremy Eng Ascent Resources plc Tel: 020 7251 4905Hugo de Salis St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477 Notes: Ascent Resources has a portfolio of over 20 oil and gas projects across sixcountries in Europe. The projects are onshore in Italy, Switzerland, Hungary,Spain, Slovenia and offshore Netherlands. In the current drilling campaign,Ascent has already drilled two wells in Hungary, one of which was a gasdiscovery. The Anagni-1 well, first of two Italian wells, has been temporarilycompleted for future deepening and testing and the Hontomin-4 well, currentlybeing drilled is the first of two wells in Spain. Later in 2007, two more gasexploration wells are to be drilled in Hungary, high impact gas explorationwells are planned in the Po Valley in Italy, and one well in 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. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange