Ascent Resources Regulatory News (AST)

4 Dec 2006 11:01

Ascent Resources PLC04 December 2006 Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas 4 December 2006 Ascent Resources plc ("Ascent" or "the Company") Spanish production and exploration update Ascent Resources plc, the AIM-traded oil and gas exploration and productioncompany, has made significant progress with its production and explorationactivities in the Sedano Basin in Northern Spain, which it believes hasconsiderable upside potential. The Company has stabilised production from theAyoluengo field, obtained permits for two appraisal wells to be drilled in knownoil bearing structures in its exploration areas and submitted an application forcontiguous exploration acreage with known gas potential. Last week, the Official Gazette of Spain published the final approval of thetransfer of the 25% interest in the La Lora Concession from Petroleum Oil andGas Espana to Ascent's affiliate NPEL (as announced on February 14th, 2006). Aspart of the consideration, Ascent is issuing 562,967 New Ordinary Shares at 12pence per share (value of €100,000). Accordingly, application has been made forthe admission of these new shares to trading on the AIM market where they willrank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in theCompany. Dealings in the New Ordinary Shares are expected to commence onDecember 6th, 2006. Production on the Ayoluengo oilfield within the La Lora Concession (Ascent:88.75%, Gold Oil plc: 11.25%) has been maintained at over 110 barrels of oil perday for the past eight months (November average: 116 bopd) following the summerimplementation of a workover programme designed to improve well efficiency.Further production enhancements are being planned to increase production andfurther improve profitability by Q2 2007 including additional workovers, new oilproduction technology and enzyme treatments for enhanced oil recovery. On the exploration front, permits for drilling have been granted for theHontomin-4 Well in the Huermeces Concession and the Tozo-1 Well in theBasconcillos 'H' Concession. Drilling will commence when the drilling rigarrives from Italy after drilling the Anagni-1 Well, which is scheduled to spudthis week. Seismic interpretation is on-going in the Valderredibles concessionto map oil bearing prospects in that area. Through its newly incorporated operating company, Compania Petrolifera de Sedano(CPdS), Ascent has submitted an application for exploration acreage to the eastwhere two wells have discovered deep high pressure gas. Ascent, as in the otherexploration areas, has a 50% interest in this Rocamundo application. Ascent's Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "We are making good progress inSpain. The Company benefits from the steady cash-flow from the Ayoluengooilfield and the prospect of higher production rates from the field andadditional reserves from the new wells provides considerable upside. Theexpansion of the exploration areas demonstrates the viability of an exclusivelyEuropean portfolio where there are still plenty of unlicensed opportunities tobe exploited." * * 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 Hugh Oram Nabarro Wells & Co. Limited Tel: 020 7710 7400 Notes Ascent Resources has a portfolio of over 20 oil and gas projects across sixcountries in Europe. The projects are onshore in Italy, Switzerland, Hungary,Spain and Romania and offshore the Netherlands. Ascent is currently drilling aprogramme of six exploration wells, two in Hungary and two each in Spain andItaly. In 2007, high impact gas exploration wells are also planned in the PoValley in Italy and in Switzerland. Ascent plans also to participate in up tofour non-operated exploration wells in the Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC led project inRomania (5% Ascent) where gas is produced from the Bilca development. Ascentalso produces over one hundred net barrels of oil daily from Spain's onlyonshore oilfield. With the strong and stable European gas market, Ascent's portfolio favours gasover oil and, with the exception of the Netherlands, all of its projects arelocated onshore where operating and development costs are substantially lowerthan they are offshore. Ascent's directors are specialists in the oil and gas business and each directorhas expertise and experience in commercialising energy assets. The Company'sBoard and Executive Management provide the basis upon which Ascent canaccommodate the rapid growth that the Company plans in the short term. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange