Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

5 Oct 2006 07:01

Aurelian Oil & Gas plc05 October 2006 Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC Ascent Resources plc & Europa Oil & Gas plc First Gas sales from Bilca Development Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC ("Aurelian" or the "Company"), the exploration andproduction company focussed on Central Europe, acting as operator of the jointventure with MIRC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascent Resources plc), EuropaOil & Gas (Holdings) plc and S.N.G.N, Romgaz S.A, is pleased to announce firstgas sales from the Bilca Development situated in the Brodina Block in NorthernRomania. Gas sales volumes will gradually increase over the next few days tothe contract rate for October of 200,000 cu.m per day. 5th October 2006 Note: The Joint Venture is between Aurelian, (28.75%), Europa (28.75%) and Ascent (5%)and the Romanian state gas producing company S.N.G. N, Romgaz S.A, (37.5%) andcovers the Brodina Concession, which covers 1,475 km2 in Northern Romania on theUkraine border. Three wells were drilled in 2005 and 2006, of which alldiscovered commercial quantities of gas. These are known as the "BilcaDevelopment" which is the subject of this announcement. Aurelian is theoperator. Enquiries: Aurelian Oil & Gas +44 20 7629 7986 Michael Seymour, Managing Director Frank Jackson, Commercial Director Richard Swindells, Nabarro Wells +44 20 7710 7400 Nick Elwes / Paddy Blewer, College Hill + 44 20 7457 2020 Ascent Resources plc Jeremy Eng, Managing Director +44 20 7251 4905 Hugo de Salis, St Brides Media and Finance Ltd +44 20 7242 4477 Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc Paul Barrett Managing Director +33 5 63 33 18 97 Ewen Ainsworth Finance Director +44 20 8924 7227Jonathan Wright / Parimal Kumar, Seymour Pierce Ltd +44 20 7107 8000Jade Mamarbachi / Toby Hall, gth media relations +44 20 7153 8035 www.aurelianoil.com Notes to Editors: Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC, was founded in December 2002, by current ManagingDirector, Michael Seymour. The Company's strategy is to explore for, appraise,develop and produce oil and natural gas reserves focused in Central Europe. The Company's expertise lies in identifying sound projects, negotiating with therelevant Ministries or state companies, and conducting high quality technicalwork to upgrade its projects to the point where they are ready for drilling anddevelopment. Aurelian Oil & Gas currently has projects in four countries with a diverse rangeof risk profiles. In Romania, the Company is operator and holds interests infour blocks; Brodina (28.75%) Cuejdiu (28.75%), Bacau (47.5%) and Suceava (50%).In Bulgaria, Aurelian has a 75% interest in and is operator of the B-Golitza andB1-Golitza Blocks, whilst in Poland Aurelian is the operator of the Poznan Eastgas appraisal project with a 90% interest. In Slovakia, Aurelian has 100%interest in three license blocks awarded in August 2006. The Company admitted to AIM on 22 August 2006. Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) plc focuses on the production and exploration ofhydrocarbons in Europe and North Africa. It currently produces 210 barrels ofoil per day from UK onshore fields and 25 barrels of oil equivalent from theUkraine. Production is expected to rise significantly after its Romanian BilcaGas Project comes on-stream during Autumn 2006. Operating a balanced portfolio,Europa currently has field appraisal activity on projects in the UK Southern GasBasin and onshore Romania and exploration activity on a further eight licencesacross the Europe - North Africa region. For more information please visitwww.europaoil.com. Ascent Resources plc Ascent Resources plc has an extensive portfolio of over 20 oil and gas projectsacross six countries in Europe. These include an 88% interest and operatorshipof the only onshore Spanish oilfield which produces over 100 barrels of oil perday. Ascent's other projects are in Italy, Switzerland, Hungary and Romania, aswell as applications offshore Netherlands. Starting late this summer Ascent willdrill six (with two optional extra) exploration wells, two (or four) in Hungaryand two each in Spain and Italy. In 2007, high impact gas exploration wells areplanned in the Po Valley in Italy and in Switzerland. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange