Empyrean Regulatory News (EME)

13 Jan 2006 08:55

Empyrean Energy PLC13 January 2006 13 January 2006 Empyrean Energy PLC ("Empyrean" or the "Company"; Ticker: (EME)) Drilling commences at the Eagle North-1 appraisal well, Eagle Oil Pool Development Project, San Joaquin Basin, California, USA AIM quoted Empyrean Energy PLC today announces commencement of drilling at theEagle North-1 well. The Eagle North-1 well which is to be drilled adjacent to a previous discoverywell for oil and associated gas is expected to take approximately 14 days toreach maximum depth in the vertical stage. Empyrean has the right to earn a38.5% working interest in the Eagle Oil Pool Development Project.. The San Joaquin Basin in southern California is a proven oil and gas field thathas produced in excess of 12 billion barrels of oil and 11 trillion cubic feetof gas. An independent expert has estimated that the Eagle Oil Pool DevelopmentProject could contain a P50 (probability 50% unrisked) reserve of 7.1 millionbarrels of recoverable oil and 12.3 billion cubic feet of associated gas, withthe P10 assessment estimated at 22.7 million barrels of oil and 22.7 billioncubic feet of associated gas. The Project is a structural-stratigraphic trapplay targeting the Eocene aged Gatchell Sand formation. Victoria Petroleum USA Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX listed VictoriaPetroleum NL (ASX CODE VPE) is the operator for the Eagle North-1 well. Theinitial phase will take approximately 14 days to complete and following initialsuccess the casing and production testing of the well will commence. If thevertical stage above proves successful the particpant's intend to complete ahorizontal production well in an attempt to enhance recovery rates The Eagle North-1 appraisal well will be drilled approximately 300 metresnorthwest of the Eagle-1 surface location and vertically drilled to its targetdepth of 4,200 metres. Upon confirmation of the presence of oil in the targetGatchell Sandstone the well will be cased and production tested for five days. A300 metre horizontal lateral well will then be drilled and completed forproduction in the target Gatchell Sandstone oil reservoir. In the event of asuccessful horizontal well completion, the Operator anticipates flow rates of upto 1000 barrels of oil per day . Commenting on the agreement today Empyrean executive director Chris Lambertsaid: "Energy demand and prices in California have continued to remain strongand Empyrean is very well placed to capitalise on these fundamentals should theEagle-North-1 well meet our expectations". For further information including full farm-in details for the Eagle Oil PoolDevelopment Project Laurence Read/Amanda Harris David Newton Chris LambertConduit PR HB-Corporate Empyrean Energy plcTel: +44 (0) 207 618 8760 Tel: +44(0) 207 510 8600 Tel : +44(0) 207 932 2442Mob: +44 (0) 7979 955 923 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange