Last checked at 31 Mar 2010 07:00
Independent Resources plc ("IRG" or the "Company")
Update on Fiume Bruna
Operational update on the appraisal of Italy's first
coalbed methane (CBM) project
The Company is pleased to announce an update on the appraisal campaign that is designed to demonstrate commercially-viable natural gas flow from the Fiume Bruna coal seam, located near Grosseto, Italy.
The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Independent Energy Solutions ("IES"), has reached the target coal sequence at FB2 and has under-reamed to 9" the 6" open hole section from 336m to 341.5m. A short term production test began following sufficient de-watering of the well. Well stimulation operations (hydraulic fracturing with sand used as proppant) will follow a planned leak-off test using 3 ½" drill pipe string and packer. The well will then be put on a long duration production test. IES has engaged Halliburton Italiana to perform the well stimulation service.
The main purpose of this operation is to evaluate the best means to stimulate the interval of interest so as to optimize gas flow rates from the gas saturated coal and shale in place, whilst minimising any water flow rate.
The well-stimulation works are expected to be complete by mid April. In the meantime, the Company has collected new samples of coal and shale and these are currently de-gassing in specially-designed canisters so as to measure gas saturation and desorption rates from cuttings, to be compared with similar data previously acquired on cores sampled in the interval of interest. Given that it is rare for cores and cuttings from borehole enlargement to be available from the same interval, the Company believes that such a data set will be useful in the future to economically yet accurately evaluate gas content in other parts of the license.
The Company expects to announce the results from the FB2 well operations only after the well has been on production test for several weeks, to allow for sufficient de-watering and a reliable database.
This announcement has been reviewed by Roberto Bencini, Technical Director of Independent Resources, for the purposes of the current Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in June 2009. Mr. Bencini is a chartered petroleum geologist. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Geological Society of London and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
| For further information contact: |
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| Grayson Nash | Independent Resources plc | +39 06 4549 0720 |
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| Allan Piper | Tavistock Communications | 07736 064 982 |
| Duncan McCormick |
| 020 7920 3150 |
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| Jonathan Wright | Seymour Pierce Limited | 020 7107 8000 |
| David Banks |
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| Richard Redmayne |
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Background details follow:
The Fiume Bruna exploration permit was awarded to Independent Energy Solutions srl (a wholly-owned subsidiary of IRG) in 2008.
The Fiume Bruna permit covers some 247 km2, a large part of which is underlain by virgin coal. This generally occurs in one 7 metre thick seam and was the object of mining activity for many years until forced abandonment of mining in the late 1950s due to the coal's high methane content. The mineworkings only touched one small area of the overall coal deposit leaving the rest as potential CBM-producing areas.
The Fiume Bruna licence has an estimated 4.8 billion cubic metres (167 billion cubic feet) of in-place resource, and results from initial testing indicated an estimated recoverable resource of 2.6 billion cubic metres (91.4 billion cubic feet). Longer-term, it also has potential for carbon sequestration, permanently disposing of carbon dioxide (CO2) from nearby sources. At the same time, an estimated additional 1.8 billion cubic metres (63.6 billion cubic feet) of methane could be produced as a result of this injection of CO2.
IRG was admitted to AIM in December 2005 and is pursuing an integrated and asset-backed gas trading business in Italy with midstream components in Italy and upstream components within Italy and in North Africa. Along with Fiume Bruna, these include the planned Rivara natural gas storage facility in the Po Valley, and exploration acreage at Ksar Hadada in Tunisia. The Company aims to pursue this long-term strategy in the most environmentally-sustainable way, by whenever possible incorporating from the outset the permanent geological storage of CO2 into its future commodity production and trading. IRG has focused on building a profitable portfolio through wholly-owned initiatives and partnerships.