Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

17 Sep 2009 10:00



Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas

17 September 2009

Ascent Resources plc ('Ascent' or 'the Company')

GH-1 Completion and Test Results

Ascent Resources plc, the AIM-traded oil and gas exploration and production company, announces the successful completion and testing of the Görbeháza-1 well ('GH-1') located in the western part of the Nyírség Szatmár permits in Hungary, known as the Panhandle. The first of two gas zones targeted for completion has achieved a gas flowrate of 3.74 MMscfd (106,000 Mm3/d).

The GH-1 well was drilled vertically to a total depth of 1,300m and encountered two gas bearing zones within the Upper Pannonian formations between 970m and 1,025m.  The deeper of these two zones between 1,018m and 1,021m has been tested and flowed gas with small amounts of condensate at a rate of 3.74 MMcfd (106,000 Mm3/d) with a flowing wellhead pressure of 1,191 psig (81 barg). The well has been completed as a gas producing well and 2.5km of pipeline will be laid to the Hajdúnánás Gas Production Facility, where condensate will be recovered and the gas processed and sold into the main Hungarian gas pipeline network.

Ascent has a 20.167% interest in this project; other partners include JKX (33.333%), DualEx (12.5%) and Swede Resources AB (0.667%).

Ascent's Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "The GH-1 well has produced gas at over 3.5 MMscfd from the first of its two completion intervals. This discovery is particularly important as the drilling location was identified by utilising the same 3-D seismic technology that was used in the recent successful Penészlek appraisal well.  We are using the same seismic techniques to identify drilling targets in Slovenia, where one third of a 90 sq km survey has been acquired in the area of the Petisovci project."

The technical information contained in this release has been reviewed and approved Dr Clive Ninnes, Ascent's Engineering Manager.  Dr Ninnes, a member of SPE has 28 years relevant experience in the evaluation of hydrocarbon resources.

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For further information visit www.ascentresources.co.uk or contact:

Notes

Ascent Resources plc has a diversified portfolio of some 20 hydrocarbon exploration and development projects across five countries in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia and Netherlands. Ascent's portfolio contains a solid base of field redevelopment projects with selected exposure to exploration upside. The portfolio is focussed on gas and with the exception of the shallow water Netherlands project, all of its projects are located onshore where operating and development costs are substantially lower than they are offshore. Ascent also has an oil and gas asset management joint venture with San Severina Holdings SA, a Swiss based investment company, which is focused on acquiring minority interests and providing investment funding for producing and development or appraisal stage oil and gas projects.