BOIL.L Regulatory News (BOIL)

2 Oct 2006 09:48

Gold Oil PLC02 October 2006 For Immediate Release 2nd October 2006 Gold Oil plc ("Gold") update on the testing of their Peruvian exploration well San Alberto-1X and Colombian Operations. San Alberto-1X was selected following extensive regional geological andgeophysical studies that tied in Block XXI to other Palaeozoic and Tertiarywells and fields. The well was spudded on 11th July 2006 and reached total depthof 5, 113 feet on the 3rd August 2006, meeting the geological objectives in thedrilling programme. The objectives of the well were the Tertiary Verdun sands that produce gas inOlympic's Las Casita gas field 20 kms to the west of San Alberto-1 and thefractured Palaeozoic quartzites that produce oil in PetroTech's offshore SanPedro field 50 kms to the west. Logging, drilling results and regionalinformation showed 250 gross feet of hydrocarbon bearing sands in the Palaeozoicand 315 gross feet of hydrocarbon bearing sands in the Verdun. The decision wastaken to production test these hydrocarbon bearing sands in both the Verdun andthe Palaeozoic. After circulating to completion fluid and running a slotted-liner over thePalaeozoic the drilling rig was moved off location. After clearing the locationa work-over hoist and test facilities moved on to the location on 22nd Augustand produced formation water at 960 barrels per day from the base of thePalaeozoic, below the hydrocarbon bearing interval. A heavier rig will move backonto location in mid to late October to pull the slotted liner and run andcement a new liner over the Palaeozoic which will isolate the water and allowthe hydrocarbon bearing intervals to be perforated and tested. In Colombia approval was finally obtained from the Ministry to start productionbut after only a few hours pumping out workover fluid from the well thehydraulic power pump that drives the downhole jet pump suffered a mechanicalfailure. A replacement pump was installed by the vendor and the well beganproduction, and then the surface pump failed again and was replaced by thevendor. In the meantime the well flowed at rates of between 467 and 738 bbls perday for a period of 12 hours before the surface pump failed again. The initialflow contained 60% oil, 30% completion fluid from cleaning up the well and 10%emulsion. The surface pump was replaced again and production recommenced. As of Friday thewell was producing between 830 and 683 bbls per day of 26.8o API gravity oil and24% completion fluid. First deliveries from the storage tank are planned to bemade over the weekend and the well is expected to stabilise once the last of thecompletion fluid is produced. The Company has also submitted an application to the Hydrocarbon Authority (ANH)for an exploration Licence for an area in north eastern Colombia that weidentified some months ago. The technical information contained in this announcement has been reviewed andapproved by Mike Burchell, B.Sc., 66, member of the SPE and with over 44 yearsexperience in the oil and gas business. Enquiries: Gary Moore Managing Director Tel: +44 (0)1737833597Email: gmoore@goldoilplc.com Mike Burchell Chairman Tel. +44 (0) 1372361772Email: mikeburchell@hotmail.com Roland Cornish Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: 020 7628 3396 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange