ECHO.L Regulatory News (ECHO)

11 Dec 2006 09:11

Independent Resources PLC11 December 2006 Drilling of well marks further step on planned coal bed methane project Independent Resources plc, the AIM-quoted natural gas storage and explorationcompany, has successfully completed drilling and logging a stratigraphic well toobtain detailed geological information on Italy's first coal bed methane ("CBM") prospect. The well reached a target depth of 345.2 metres below ground level and, asexpected, encountered an approximately 6-metre thick coal seam at a depth ofaround 330 metres. The coal has been continuously cored and these coal samplesare now being studied in a laboratory environment. The well will provideinformation on coal permeability, coal rank, gas content (m3/tonne coal) and gascomposition. These are all important factors in assessing the attractiveness ofthe coal for production of CBM. The well location was chosen because the depth to the coal could be accuratelypredicted there. It is 600 metres away from the nearest mine tunnel, and at arelatively shallow depth, which means the generation of coal bed methane at thislocation would probably be less productive than might be achieved elsewhere inIndependent Resources' Fiume Bruna licence area. The data collected by this well will nevertheless be very valuable ahead of IRG's planned commercial development of the methane reserves on its licence,which contains the 90 square-kilometre Fiume Bruna coal basin north of Grossetoin central Italy. Coal bed methane is almost pure methane produced directly from coal seams.Whilst many conventional oil and gas fields comprise trapped hydrocarbonsgenerated by coal deposits, producing gas directly from coal is a very differenttechnical and economic proposition. IRG was provisionally awarded the Fiume Bruna exploration licence from theItalian Government in June 2005. The licence covers an area of 267 km(2) and hasvery light work commitments. The new well is an important step in the staged appraisal of the licence whichonly commits IRG to undertake subsequent phases once it is satisfied with theresults of the previous stage. For further information contact: Stephen Staley, Managing Director, Independent Resources plc: 01332 865 253 07771 838 753 Allan Piper, First City Financial Public Relations: 020 7436 7486 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange