EDR.L Regulatory News (EDR)

24 Jun 2008 07:00



EGDON RESOURCES PLC 

("Egdon" or "the Company")

Further Details of New Licences Onshore UK

Egdon Resources plc (AIM:EDR), the UK-based exploration and production company primarily focused on the hydrocarbon-producing basins of the onshore UK and mainland Europe, is pleased to provide further details of the licences offered to it in the UK 13th Landward licensing round.

As previously reported the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has offered Egdon a total of six operated Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences ("PEDL's"). These licences are located within two of the Company's focus areas, the East Midlands Petroleum Province and the Wessex Basin of Dorset. All licence awards are subject to the usual regulatory approvals.

Egdon and its joint venture partners have been offered PEDL237 within the Wessex Basin in Dorset, Southern England. Egdon will hold a 45% interest in the licence with partners First Oil Expro Ltd (26.25%), Sterling Resources (UK) Ltd. (18.75%) and Dorset Exploration Limited (10%). The licence is contiguous to existing licences PEDL048 and PL090. The area contains a number of high potential oil prospects identified on proprietary reprocessed 2-Dimensional ("2D") seismic data. The main plays within the block are the Sherwood Sandstone and Bridport Sandstone which are productive at the Wytch Farm oil field located some 20 kilometres to the east. Egdon have mapped best estimate gross prospective resource potential of 70 million barrels of oil ("mmbo") within the licence. The work programme will comprise of pre-stack depth migration of existing 2D seismic data prior to making a drill or drop decision on the licence.

Five licences have been offered in the East Midlands Petroleum Province of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, an area where Egdon will now hold 15 licences. 

PEDL182 is one of three licences offered to a 50:50 joint venture with Celtique Energie Petroleum Limited ("Celtique"). The licence is located to the south and east of the town of Scunthorpe. PEDL182 contains the Broughton Prospect, a structure up-dip and to the north and west of the Broughton-1 oil discovery well drilled by BP in 1984, which produced oil on test at rates of up to 40 barrels of oil per day.  Broughton is located to the south-east of the Crosby Warren producing oil field. Additional prospectivity is also identified within the block. Best estimate gross prospective resources of 4 mmbo have been mapped within the licence. The work programme will comprise of the reprocessing of existing seismic data and new proprietary 2D seismic acquisition before making a drill or drop decision on the licence.

Licence PEDL241 is located to the south east of PEDL182. The licence contains a regional high trend known as the Glanford-Brigg High along which oil has been found by wells at Brigg and Glanford. The trend is covered by 3-Dimensional ("3D") seismic data which has enabled the mapping of a number of robust prospects. The primary focus will be on the North Kelsey Prospect, an unߛtested tilted fault-block, and the Brigg and Glanford Prospects where oil has previously been found although not commercially developed. Evaluation of existing data has resulted in best-estimate gross prospective resources of over 12 mmbo being mapped for the licence. The Egdon-Celtique joint venture will obtain and reprocess further 2D seismic data and reprocess the existing 3D seismic before making a drill or drop decision.

Egdon and Celtique have also been offered PEDL201 in the southern part of the East Midlands Petroleum Province to the south-east of the city of Nottingham. The block is located between the Rempstone and Long Clawson producing oil fields on the southern margin of the Widmerpool Gulf Basin. Egdon have identified a number of prospective structures and also a new high potential play. Best-estimate gross prospective resources of 14 mmbo have been mapped within the licence. Egdon will obtain and reprocess additional 2D seismic data and acquire new proprietary 2D seismic data prior to making a drill or drop decision.

Egdon has also been offered two blocks on a 100% basis, which are contiguous with existing licences PEDL118, PEDL130 and PEDL132. PEDL203 is located in Nottinghamshire to the south of the Eakring - Dukes Wood oil field where Egdon is planning to drill a well later in 2008 as part of a field rejuvenation project. This block contains the Kirklington oil field which produced from the Sub-Alton Crawshaw reservoir between 1991 and 1998 and from the Chatsworth Grit reservoir from 2003 to 2004. Egdon believe that over 0.5 mmbo could remain recoverable from the field via the existing Kirklington-2 well, which is still capable of production. Egdon will work to restart production from the field later in 2008 subject to regulatory, landowner and other approvals. The licence work programme requires obtaining and reprocessing existing 2D seismic data prior to a drill or drop decision on the licence.

PEDL206 (Egdon 100%) contains the Kelham Hills and Caunton abandoned oil fields and a number of identified leads and prospects. Egdon have mapped best-estimate prospective resources of 5 mmbo for the licence and will be obtaining and reprocessing further existing 2D and 3D seismic data as part of the work programme prior to a drill or drop decision.

Commenting on the licence offers, Mark Abbott, Managing Director of Egdon, said 

"The award of these six new operated licences significantly strengthen and broaden Egdon's onshore UK asset and opportunity position. The new licences add net Egdon best-estimate prospective resources of over 50 million barrels of oil. Within these new blocks we have a broad mix of opportunities, from an early oil production project at Kirklington in PEDL203, through identified prospects up-dip of known oil such as at Broughton in PEDL182 and Brigg and Glanford in PEDL241, to high potential plays such as those seen in the Sherwood Sandstone of the Wessex Basin in PEDL237 and new play concepts as seen in PEDL201.

These awards represent a further step forward in our strategy to develop a material exploration and production business focussing onshore in the UK and mainland Europe"

For further information please contact:

Company Background

Egdon Resources plc is an established UK-based exploration and production company primarily focused on onshore exploration and production in the hydrocarbon-producing basins of the UK and mainland Europe.

Egdon holds interests in twenty seven licences in the UK and France and has an active programme of exploration, appraisal and development within its balanced portfolio of oil and gas assets. Egdon is an approved operator in both the UK and France.

Egdon currently has production from the Keddington oil field in the East Midlands. Oil and gas production is anticipated from Avington, Kirkleatham, Waddock Cross, Eakring-Dukes Wood and Kirklington within the next six to twelve months.

Egdon Resources plc listed on AIM in January 2008, following the demerger of its gas storage business, Portland Gas plc. The pre-demerged business was formed in 1997 and listed on AIM in December 2004.

In accordance with AIM rules - guidance for mining, oil and gas companies, the information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and signed off by the Managing Director of Egdon Resources plc Mark Abbott, a Geoscientist with over 22 years experience.