Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

5 Sep 2007 07:01

Ascent Resources PLC05 September 2007 Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas 5th September 2007 Ascent Resources plc ("Ascent" or the "Company") To purchase 22.5% of Italian Drilling Contractor Ascent Resources plc, the AIM traded oil and gas exploration and productioncompany, is to acquire a 22.5% interest in Italian drilling contractor PerazzoliDrilling srl ("Perazzoli"). The acquisition will provide Ascent, through itssubsidiary Ascent Drilling Limited ("Ascent Drilling"), with priority access toPerazzoli's rigs, enabling it to more efficiently schedule the Company'sexploration and appraisal drilling programmes on its European gas and oilportfolio, as well as additional revenue. Ascent Drilling is to be owned 50% by Ascent Resources plc and 50% by MidnightEnergy Limited, a company controlled by Malcolm Groom, also a director of AscentResources plc. Ascent Drilling will be acquiring 45% of the shares of Perazzoliand Ascent's interest will be in 22.5% of those shares. Under the terms of the letter of intent signed between Perazzoli and AscentDrilling, Perazzoli will acquire the 100 tonne Corsair 300 drilling rig from itsparent company and is to order a WEI DS-205 200 tonne drilling rig for deliveryin mid 2008. The Italian manufactured new build WEI rig is one of the latestgeneration of hydraulic rigs, which are low profile, designed for minimumenvironmental impact, and capable of drilling to over 3,600m. The Corsair rig,which has a drilling capability of over 2,000m, has been used continuously byAscent in Spain and Italy over the past 8 months to drill 3 wells and for thedeepening of the Anagni-1 oil discovery well. Across Europe there is currently a shortage of drilling contractors. This is dueto an increase in exploration activity over the past two years, including theGerman geothermal initiative, which has adsorbed drilling capacity. In Italy,the shortage of properly certified drilling rigs is particularly severe. With a22.5% share in Perazzoli, Ascent will be able to prioritise its drilling slotsas well as gain financially from the rental of the two rigs to third parties.Perazzoli has a strong order book and contracts with other operators in Italywill see both rigs fully engaged for the foreseeable future. Ascent willinitially use the rigs to drill on its Italian and Swiss projects and expects touse them for circa 20% of their operational time. Ascent's drilling plans with Perazzoli includes the Gazzata exploration well onthe Bastiglia exploration permit in the Po Valley, which is being fully fundedby its 50% farm-in partner Deltana Energy Limited, the first of the Swissappraisal wells, where a farm-out is under discussion, as well as two appraisalwells at Anagni and a further exploration well on the Frosinone permit.Drilling on projects in Hungary, Slovenia and the Netherlands will be with othercontractors. Ascent's Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "We have over 20 projects in ourportfolio and the seven wells drilled to date have been on only four of theseprojects. These first wells were the easier shallow wells all less than 2,000m.The next wells are generally deeper and target more prospective andsubstantially larger targets. Market conditions, particularly in Italy at thepresent time, make taking a strategic interest in an Italian drilling companyvery advantageous to Ascent. Not only does it allow us to drill at a timeconvenient to us but it will also contribute to revenues." * * 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 over 20 gas and oil projects across sixcountries in Europe. The projects are onshore in Italy, Switzerland, Hungary,Spain, Slovenia and offshore Netherlands. The Company operates Spain's onlyonshore oilfield where production currently averages over 110 barrels of oil perday. With the stable European gas market, Ascent's portfolio favours gas overoil. 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