HDY.L Regulatory News (HDY)

10 Aug 2007 07:01

Hardy Oil & Gas plc10 August 2007 For Immediate Release 10 August 2007 Hardy Oil and Gas plc ("Hardy" or "Company") Activity Update Hardy (AIM : HDY), the oil and gas exploration and production company withsignificant interests in India, today provides an update on its Indiaoperations. CY-OS/2 Hardy is pleased to announce that the Company has received approval from India'sDirectorate General of Hydrocarbons regarding the appraisal programme for theCY-OS/2 licence. The programme is intended to evaluate the potentialcommerciality of the Fan-A discovery which was announced on 8 January 2007 andthe Company expects to drill three appraisal wells within the next 24 months.Hardy is the operator of the CY-OS/2 licence and holds a 75% participatinginterest in the block. D3 The 3D seismic acquisition has been completed on the D3 block and the data iscurrently being processed and interpreted for finalising well locations. Hardyhas a 10% working interest on the D3 block. D9 Due to ongoing constraints with its contracted deep water drilling rigs RelianceIndustries Limited ("Reliance"), has submitted a request for a quote for adrilling rig for the D9 license. As of today, 10 bids have been received whichare currently being reviewed and discussions are beginning with the rig owners.As a result, it is now anticipated that the commencement of drilling under theplanned exploration programme will be in the 2nd quarter of 2008. Reliance isthe operator of the D9 licence and holds a 90% participating interest in theblock, with Hardy holding the balance 10%. PY-3 Due to excessive water entering the PY3-3RL well on the PY-3 field, Hardy asoperator has shut-in the well resulting in a reduction in output from the field,in the order of 1100 STB/D (gross) in which Hardy has an 18% working interest.Prior to the well being shut-in, production was 4500 STB/D. Efforts arecurrently ongoing to reactivate the well, however if a rig is acquired for fullactivation, then it will form part of the Phase III development programme whentwo additional wells will be drilled in the field to enhance the production. Commenting on Hardy's operations, Yogeshwar Sharma, COO of Hardy Oil and Gas plcsaid: "2007 has been a year of significant progress for Hardy in terms of explorationsuccess and production. We look forward to appraising and developing our recentdiscoveries in the coming year along with the enhancement of production on PY3through the Phase III development programme." For further information please contact: Hardy Oil and Gas plc 020 7471 9850Sastry Karra, Chief Executive OfficerYogeshwar Sharma, Chief Operating Officer Arden Partners Limited 020 7398 1632Richard Day Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000Mark EdwardsBen Willey This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange