Circle Oil Plc Regulatory News (COP)

16 Apr 2007 07:00

Circle Oil PLC16 April 2007 16 April 2007 CIRCLE OIL PLC ("Circle" or the "Company") Circle Oil Farms into Two Concessions in Tunisia Circle Oil plc (AIM:COP), the international oil and gas exploration anddevelopment company, is pleased to announce the signing of agreements withEXXOIL Tunisie allowing Circle Oil to farm-in to two separate concessions inTunisia. These farm-in agreements are subject to final confirmation andacceptance of transfer of interests by DGE (Direction Generale de l'Energie)Ministere de l'Industrie, de l'Energie et des Petites et Moyennes Entreprise. The farm-in to the Grombalia Permit in northern Tunisia will give Circle a 36%working interest with the operator EXXOIL Tunisie and ETAP as partners. The workprogramme includes acquiring a small amount of 2-D seismic in late spring 2007and the drilling of two mature prospects presently planned for the fourthquarter 2007 and first quarter 2008. The first well is planned to be drilledinto a fault block targeting a level that is producing in an adjacent field. Thesecond well is planned to be drilled in very shallow water close to shore. Thiswell will test a larger structure with two way dip and two way fault closurewithin the same geological sequence that has seen a number of drilling successeswithin the Permit. The second farm-in, into the Ras Mamour Permit in southern Tunisia, will giveCircle a 23% working interest and will include the drilling of one onshore well.This well is presently scheduled for fourth quarter 2007/early 2008 and willtarget a geologically similar sequence and structure close to the producingEzzaouia Field. These farm-in agreements give Circle Oil the opportunity to participate indrilling wells with short lead times. The maturity of the prospects and theproximity to existing production in geologically related, adjacent and analogoussituations were significant factors in Circle Oil's decision when entering intothese agreements. Each of the wells will be drilled with the possibility, ifsuccessful, to be put into early production. The initial capital expenditureunder the two farm-in agreements will be met out of Circle's existing workingcapital resources. A number of other potentially good prospects have been identified within the twopermits which can be considered for future drilling. Commenting on the signing of these agreements David Hough CEO Circle Oil stated: "We are delighted to be working in Tunisia and look forward to a long-termrelationship with our new partners. It is planned to drill three matureprospects in a proven oil province, two of which are adjacent to existingproduction and the third is in a geological setting which has seen previoussuccesses. For Circle Oil, these farm-in agreements represent a further step inthe company's evolution towards becoming a balanced exploration and productioncompany.'' Enquiries: Circle Oil plc David Hough, CEO (+44 20 7638 9571) Citigate Dewe Rogerson (+44 20 7638 9571) Media enquiries: Martin Jackson/George Cazenove Analyst enquiries: Nina Soon Circle has the largest licence holding of any company in Oman. In addition toBlock 52, the company also has an ongoing exploration program in onshore Block49. Worldwide, the company is active in exploration in the Owambo Basin,Namibia; in the Caribbean Sea, offshore Panama and in the Rharb Basin, Morocco. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange