IAE.L Regulatory News (IAE)

22 Aug 2006 07:00

Wham Energy plc22 August 2006 WHAM ENERGY ANNOUNCES 3D SURVEY OF NORTH SEA PROSPECT WHAM Energy plc ("WHAM" or "the Company"), the North Sea oil and gas explorationcompany has announced its intention to contract a specialist 3D survey of one ofits major prospects in the North Sea. Together with its joint venture partners in Licence P1245, Canadian oil and gasgroup Ithaca Energy Inc., WHAM has contracted Petroleum Geo-Sciences ("PGS") toconduct a detailed 3D seismic survey over the blocks 48/3a and 48/4, located inthe Southern North Sea. The survey will commence later this month. The survey will take approximately one month to complete and will be fullyprocessed by the end of the first quarter of 2007. The survey will infill a datagap and provide the group with state of the art 3D data covering the wholelicence. The gross cost is estimated at £3.0 million GBP, of which £1.2 million GBP willbe attributable to WHAM. Tom Windle CEO of WHAM said, " This is another milestone in the process of exploration of license P1245 inthe North Sea. Detailed mapping of the existing 2D and older generation 3Dseismic data has revealed a number of gas prospects and leads on these veryattractive southern North Sea blocks. " This state of the art 3D survey will ensure that the best prospects areexplored through the drill bit and also provide a way forward for fast trackdevelopment. This may lead to additional exploration drilling. We are veryexcited to be able to conduct this highly cost effective survey with PGS. Webelieve that acquiring this new seismic data will reduce risk and furtherenhance our inventory of high quality prospects. " Crucially it will allow us to fast-track any potential developments and thussignificantly reduce the cycle time from exploration to production." -ends- Date: 22 August 2006 For further information contact: WHAM Energy plcTom Windle 020 7924 4464 cityPROFILESimon Courtenay 020 7448 3244 Notes to editors: Blocks 48/3a and 48/4 lie in the highly prolific Southern North Sea gas basin.The acreage was awarded to the group (Ithaca Energy 60% and WHAM Energy 40%) inNovember 2003. WHAM Energy plc is an AIM listed company. Further details are available onthe Company's website: www.whamenergy.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange