Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

30 Apr 2007 07:05

Ascent Resources PLC30 April 2007 Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas 30th April 2007 Ascent Resources plc ("Ascent" or the "Company") Recommencement of Drilling in Hungary Ascent Resources plc, the AIM traded oil and gas exploration and productioncompany, in conjunction with its partners, has started drilling the first of twofurther wells in the Nyirseg exploration permits of north east Hungary. PetroHungaria kft (a 90% owned subsidiary of Ascent), started drilling thePEN-102 well on 26 April 2007. This morning at 06:00 CET, the rig was drillingahead in 12-1/4" hole at 504m with a planned total depth of 1,500m. Partners in the well are DualEx of Canada (37.5%) and Petro Pequnia of Sweden(2%) and under the farm-out agreement, DualEx will pay 75% and Petro Pequnia 4%of the costs of this well with PetroHungaria kft funding the remaining 21%. The PEN-102 well is an appraisal well of a gas discovery made in 1983 at PEN-12. The well will target lower Miocene tuffaceous reservoir rocks which produced inthe Peneszlek gas field roughly five kilometres to the east. In addition, theprospect includes a shallower Pannonian Sand target of the same age as thatsuccessfully tested in the PEN-104 well, the gas discovery announced in November2006. In relation to the development planning for PEN-104, PetroHungaria andits partners are evaluating the incremental reserves of two nearby suspendedwells including PEN-12 drilled in the 1980's. These wells both produced gas ontest from the Miocene formations but were never placed on production. After drilling PEN-102, the rig will move to drill the VAM-1 well which isdesigned to test exploration prospects in both the Miocene and Pannonianformations in the Vamospercs area, roughly 18 kilometres to the southwest of thePeneszlek field. Ascent's Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "The Hungarian operations are animportant part of our European gas orientated portfolio. The new wells have thepotential to increase reserves as well as to produce gas in the short-term,thereby providing additional cashflow for the Company. These wells are theoption wells under our farm-in agreement and PetroHungaria retains a 60.5%working interest. "Additionally, the tight gas redevelopment project in the south west of Hungary,in association with MOL, the Hungarian oil and gas company continues toprogress. This project also has great potential and consolidates our Company'sposition in Hungary." Garry Hides, CEO of DualEx, commented, "We're pleased to be back drilling atNyirseg. Each of these two wells could add significantly to the alreadydemonstrated potential of the blocks. Once we've completed earning our finalworking interest with these wells we can move forward with our partners to morefully evaluate the blocks." * * 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