Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

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

29 March 2019

Ascent Resources plc

("Ascent" or the "Company")

Permitting update

The Board of Ascent confirms that it has filed its appeal against the recent decision of the Slovenian Environment Agency ("ARSO") to request an Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") in respect of the application to re-stimulate its existing wells (Pg-10 and Pg-11A) at the Petišovci concession in Slovenia.

The Board notes that a new Environment Minister has now been appointed in Slovenia following the resignation of the previous Minister due to allegations of possible corruption.

The appeal will be reviewed by the Ministry led by the newly appointed Minister in due course. Slovenian guidelines are that this process should be completed within two months however experience has shown us that these guidelines are often not adhered to.

Based on the advice provided by our legal teams in London and Ljubljana, the Board firmly believe that the decision by ARSO was manifestly wrong as it ignored the advice provided by six governmental institutions who concluded that there was no significant risk to the environment and therefore no EIA was required.

In addition, ARSO confirmed in their decision that according to EU guidelines the project is not equivalent to high volume hydraulic fracturing commonly referred to as 'fracking'. This was a very welcome recognition as we believe this fact is not fully understood by decision makers in Slovenia.

The IPPC Permit which is required for the processing plant in Slovenia and which was applied for nearly five years ago is still with ARSO for a final decision. It is the position of the Company that this decision is long overdue and should have been confirmed at the very latest in November 2017. We provided extensive additional information during 2018 and hope that this permit will be confirmed by ARSO without further damaging delay.

While we hope for a positive outcome from the appeal in relation to the well permit and the final confirmation of the IPPC Permit, we continue to prepare our legal options outside of Slovenia to address the numerous breaches of Slovenian and EU law which have caused significant economic damage to Ascent shareholders.

Colin Hutchinson, CEO of Ascent Resources plc, commented:

"The appeal has been filed and we look forward to the decision of the new Environment Minister based on an objective review of the facts."