Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

14 May 2007 13:00

Ascent Resources PLC14 May 2007 Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas Ascent Resources plc ("Ascent" or the "Company") Drilling Update Ascent Resources plc, the AIM traded oil and gas exploration and productioncompany, through its Hungarian subsidiary PetroHungaria kft has completed thedrilling of PEN-102, its third well in the Nyirseg exploration permits of northeast Hungary and is suspending the well pending a decision on furtheroperations. PetroHungaria kft (a 90% owned subsidiary of Ascent) with partners DualEx andPetro Pequnia drilled the PEN-102 well to its planned total depth of 1,500m.Drilling and logging results indicated that the well had intercepted a faultsystem and consequently the target Miocene tuffaceous formations wereencountered 38m deeper than prognosis. Only residual gas was present in thisdeeper section of the reservoir. To accurately define the orientation of thefault system, an offset vertical seismic profile (well seismic survey) has beenrecorded. The purpose of this survey is to enable a sidetrack well to beplanned with the objective of entering the Miocene gas reservoir in a morefavourable position. The PEN-102 well is the third of four wells drilled under the farm-in agreement. PetroHungaria's partners, DualEx of Canada and Petro Pequnia of Sweden willearn working interests in the Nyirseg exploration permits of 37.5% and 2%respectively, by paying 75% and 4% of the costs of these wells. PetroHungariafunds the remaining 21% for a retained 60.5% working interest. Over the nextweek, the drilling rig will move to the last of the four farm-in wells, VAM-1, agas exploration well designed to test exploration prospects in both the Mioceneand Pannonian formations in the Vamospercs area, some 14km further south west ofPEN-102. Ascent's Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "A successful sidetrack of thePEN-102 could yet add reserves to the planned Peneszlek development in Hungary,which includes the PEN-104 discovery and other proven reserves in PEN-9 andPEN-12. "Whilst the processing of the well seismic is on-going, our consortium willdrill the VAM-1 well and continue planning the further exploration activities inthe Nyirseg permits. These two permits cover over 2,000 km2 and so far onlyabout 30% of the area has been examined in detail." In Italy, mobilisation of the drilling rig back to the Anagni-1 well has beendelayed by about two weeks, while awaiting receipt of authorisation from theGovernmental Authorities to deepen the well. A further announcement will bemade when the rig is ready to commence operations. The technical information contained in this release has been reviewed andapproved by Dr Eloi Dolivo, Ascent's Exploration Manager. Dr Dolivo (member ofthe AAPG) has 26 years experience in the evaluation of hydrocarbon resources. This notice is timed for simultaneous release in both London and Toronto. * * 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. Ascent is at present drilling aprogramme of exploration wells across its portfolio. The Company operatesSpain's only onshore oilfield where production currently averages over 110barrels of oil per day. With the stable European gas market, Ascent's portfoliofavours gas over oil. With the exception of the Netherlands, all of its projectsare located onshore where operating and development costs are substantiallylower than they are offshore. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange