BNK.L Regulatory News (BNK)

31 Mar 2006 08:30

Bankers Petroleum Limited31 March 2006 BANKERS PETROLEUM LTD. ANNOUNCES Albania Plan of Development Approval March 31, 2006 BNK: TSX BNK: AIM March 31st, 2006, Calgary, Alberta - Bankers Petroleum Ltd. (the "Company")(TSX: BNK, AIM: BNK), is pleased to announce that a press conference was heldtoday in Tirana, Albania with Albpetrol Sh.A ("Albpetrol"), National PetroleumAgency of Albania, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Energy of Albania tojointly announce the approval of the Patos Marinza Oilfield Plan of Developmentsubmitted by the Company. This approval allows Bankers through it's wholly owned subsidiary SaxonInternational Energy Ltd. ("Saxon") to take-over the remaining wells in thefield on a defined basis consistent with the Plan of Development ("PoD") andproduce and sell oil under Albpetrol's existing license for a period of 25 yearswith an option to extend at the Company's election for further five yearincrements. The Plan of Development includes taking over consolidated areas of wells fromAlbpetrol and redeveloping between 80 and 120 wells each year for the first fouryears along with the necessary infrastructure to attain gross oil productionbetween 10,000 and 15,000 bopd. Total development costs are anticipated to rangebetween US$155-213 million. The Patos Marinza oilfield is estimated to contain some 1.96 billion barrels oforiginal oil in place with current recovery being approximately 6%. Theredevelopment could potentially recover an additional 99.7 million barrels ofgross oil, based on estimated proved and probable gross reserves referred to inthe Evaluation of Reserves prepared as at December 31, 2005, by the Company'sindependent qualified reserves evaluator, APA Petroleum Engineering Inc.,pursuant to National Instrument 51-101 ("NI 51-101"). This equates toapproximately 4-6% incremental recovery, based on primary heavy oil productiontechniques. The 2006 work program and budget forecasts taking over between 80 - 110 wells ona US$31 million capital expenditure program with a production target ofapproximately 3,800 barrels of oil per day by year end. Richard Wadsworth, President of Bankers Petroleum Ltd., commenting on theapproval of Plan of Development said "This approval is a significant milestonefor the Company and Albania, and now allows the Company to execute it's Plan ofDevelopment and follow up on the Company's belief that Albania fulfills anelement of its strategy of focusing on unconventional resource type plays withthe opportunity for long term production, reserves and cash flow growth". On Behalf of the Board of Directors, "Richard Wadsworth" Richard Wadsworth, President For further information, please contact 604-685-2162 Information in this news release respecting the Plan of Development, reservesestimates, production estimates and targets, development costs, work programsand budgets constitute forward-looking information. Such forward-lookinginformation is based on certain assumptions, including the availability of fundsfor capital expenditures necessary to construct the infrastructure required forfuture development, a favorable political and economic operating environment, aconsistent rate of well re-completions and costs, success rates, productionperformance and build-up periods for well re-completions that are consistentwith or an improvement over historical levels. Such forward-looking informationinvolves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which maycause the actual costs and results of the Company and its operations to bematerially different from estimated costs or results expressed or implied bysuch forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others politicaland economic risks associated with foreign operations, general risks inherent inpetroleum operations, risks associated with equipment procurement and equipmentfailure, availability of qualified personnel, risks associated withtransportation, currency and exchange rate fluctuations and other risksdescribed in the Company's NI 51-101F1 and Annual Information Form filed onwww.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to take into account importantfactors that could cause actual costs or results to differ materially, there maybe other factors that cause costs and timing of the Company's program or resultsnot to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance thatsuch statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future eventscould differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly,readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange