Faroe Petroleum Plc Regulatory News (FPM)

22 Jun 2007 07:01

Faroe Petroleum PLC22 June 2007 22nd June 2007 Faroe Petroleum plc ("Faroe Petroleum", "Faroe" or the "Company") Faroe Petroleum Achieves First Production from Minke Main Gas Field Faroe Petroleum, the independent oil and gas company focusing on exploration,appraisal and undeveloped field opportunities in the Atlantic Margin, North Seaand Norway, is pleased to announce the start-up of gas production from the MinkeMain gas field in the Southern North Sea. The Minke Main field (in block 44/24a) is located in the UK Southern Gas Basin,near to the UK-Dutch median line, approximately 25 kilometres east of theproducing Caister-Murdoch gas fields and 13 kilometres south west of the D15platform in the Dutch sector. Located in 45 metres of water, the field isoperated by GDF Britain and has been developed as a single well sub-sea tie-backto the D15 platform facilities located offshore Holland. Net reservesattributable to Faroe Petroleum in respect of Minke Main are estimated to be2.57 billion cubic feet of gas. Production from the field will be 60 million standard cubic feet of gas per dayequating to approximately 600 barrels of oil equivalent per day net to Faroe.The gas will be transported via a new 15 kilometre pipeline to the Dutch D15platform (operated by the Gaz de France affiliate GDF ProNed), where it entersthe existing NGT Pipeline System for delivery at Uithuizen in the Netherlands.Faroe Petroleum has entered into a gas sales agreement with Gaz de France S.A.to buy its equity share of gas under a traditional oil-indexed contract. The ownership interests in the Minke field are GDF Britain Ltd (15.6% andoperator), E.ON Ruhrgas UK Median Limited (42.7%), RWE Dea UK (35.8%) and FaroePetroleum (U.K.) Limited (5.9%). Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum, commented: "I am delighted that Faroe Petroleum has secured its first production, whichrepresents a significant milestone for the Company. We have brought to fruitionthe first step towards generating strong cashflow designed to make a materialcontribution towards financing our exploration and appraisal activities focusedon the UK and Faroese Atlantic Margin, the North Sea and Norway. "GDF have done an excellent job bringing this challenging field safely toproduction with the well achieving production rates up to 75 million standardcubic feet of gas per day on test when drilled. Minke Main is one of threeundeveloped gas field discoveries we acquired in mid 2006 from ConocoPhillips asa package of licence interests. The other two undeveloped discoveries in thepackage are the adjacent Minke Graben, which may be drained through Minke Main,and the Orca gas fields with two tested discovery wells. These fields offerconsiderable additional reserve and value potential to Faroe Petroleum, anddevelopment decisions for them are anticipated later this year." Ends Note David Ramsay, Asset Manager at Faroe Petroleum, who is a Petroleum Engineer(MEng degree in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt university (1991)), andwho has been involved in the energy industry for more than 18 years, has readand approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement. Enquiries: Faroe Petroleum plc Graham Stewart Tel: 01224 652 810 gstewart@faroe-petroleum.com Financial Dynamics Billy Clegg/Edward Westropp Tel: 0207 269 7157 billy.clegg@fd.com Notes to Editors The Company is actively building a balanced portfolio of operated andnon-operated exploration and appraisal properties, with significant stakes andan active work programme. Faroe Petroleum has through successive licenceapplications and acquisitions built a substantial portfolio of exploration andappraisal assets in the Atlantic Margin, the UK and Norwegian North Sea andNorwegian Sea. The 34 licence portfolio provides considerable spread of risk andreward, encompasses eight licences West of Shetlands, five licences offshore theFaroe Islands, seven licences in the Moray Firth area of the UK Central NorthSea, seven licences in the Southern gas basin and seven licences in theNorwegian North Sea and Norwegian Sea. The Company operates five of its AtlanticMargin licences and four of its North Sea licences. Faroe Petroleum jointventure partners include BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, DONG, DSM, Eni, E.ONRuhrgas, GDF, Oilexco, OMV, RWE, Shell and Statoil all of which have anoutstanding track record in oil and gas exploration and development. Faroe Petroleum is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of theLondon Stock Exchange and has its headquarters in Aberdeen, UK Faroe Petroleumhas a highly experienced team of professionals focused on creating exceptionalvalue for its shareholders. The company recently enhanced its capability throughthe establishment of a new Norway based team in Stavanger, designed tocapitalise on the significant opportunities in that region; most of this newteam joined Faroe from Paladin Resources Norge following Paladin's acquisitionby Talisman in 2006. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange