Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

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

23 March 2010

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

Hungarian production and testing update

Ascent Resources plc, the AIM-traded oil and gas exploration and production company, through its subsidiary PetroHungaria kft, provides an update on production and testing in the Penészlek area of the Nyírség permits in Hungary.

Production from the PEN-105 well has commenced and is expected to stabilise at over 2 MMscfd within a few days. The completion of the PEN-101 well has been temporarily suspended as the acid stimulation, while clearly demonstrating a substantial improvement in productivity, caused a suspected failure of the cement isolation allowing some water production from a deeper zone. A short sidetrack is being considered and once the drilling of PEN-106 is complete, the drilling rig will return to the PEN-101 location to conduct the remedial work. The PEN-104 well is to be abandoned as, following the completion of further testing operations on the PEN-104AA sidetrack, very low gas productivity and high watercut make commercial production untenable.

Ascent Resources Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "The initiation of production on PEN-105 not only provides cash flow but demonstrates the success of our strategy of targeting development projects where there is instant demand for our production. The short term set back of PEN-101 is not expected to cause significant delay and as soon as the drill rig is available we should be in a position to ready the well for production. With production online from Hungary, we now look towards further results from drilling in Italy and the analysis of 3-D seismic in Slovenia."

Partners interests in the Penészlek Project are:

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 who 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 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 would be offshore.