Leed Resources Regulatory News (LDP)

10 Mar 2008 15:30

Leed Petroleum PLC10 March 2008 Leed Petroleum PLC ("Leed" or the "Company") Drilling Update and Report on Future Drilling Activity Leed Petroleum PLC, the oil and gas exploration and production company focusedon the Gulf of Mexico, announces the completion of drilling of the Eugene IslandA-6 development well. This well targeted one development and two exploratory objectives. Previously,the Company announced that commercial production was found in the developmentand first exploratory objectives. The second exploratory objective has now been logged. The logs indicate sixfeet of (net) pay for this zone which will add only marginally to reserves. TheCompany intends to conduct further study over the coming months to determine ifdrilling another well to this same reservoir in search of thicker pay iswarranted. Overall, the A-6 well is a substantial economic success. The Company estimatesthat reserves from this well are more than double the pre-drill estimateprepared by the competent person at the time of admission to AIM. At that time,the competent person, an independent reservoir engineering firm, credited thewell with total (gross) 2P* reserves of 824 thousand barrels of oil and 4.8billion cubic feet of gas. The Company is working on completing the well for production from the firstexploratory target, log results from which indicate 51 ft of true verticalthickness pay. The first sale of production from this zone is expected to occurin April 2008. Upon the establishment of production from the A-6 well, Leed intends to use thedrilling rig at Eugene Island to drill the A-7 well. This well will target twoprimary pay zones in a separate fault block of the Eugene Island field. The Eugene Island Blocks are located 50 miles offshore, south of Morgan City,Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico in approximately 80 feet of water. Leed'smanagement team has built an inventory of development projects and explorationtargets across the Eugene Island Block 183/184 field. Howard Wilson, President and Chief Executive of Leed Petroleum PLC, commented: "We are very pleased by the results of our first well in the drilling programme.The A-6 well is a significant commercial result, adding substantial new 2Preserves and materially increasing Leed's daily production rate once brought onstream in April. Our drilling programme will now move to the even more promising Eugene IslandA-7 exploration well, which we are on track to spud in April this year." 10 March 2008 For further information: Leed Petroleum PLCHoward Wilson, President and Chief Executive +1 337 314 0700James Slatten, Chief Operating Officer +1 337 314 0700 Matrix Corporate Capital LLPAlastair Stratton +44 20 7925 3300Tim Graham +44 20 7925 7852 Pelham Public RelationsAlisdair Haythornthwaite +44 20 7743 6676Evgeniy Chuikov +44 20 3008 5506 NOTES TO EDITORS Review by a qualified person The information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved byChris Thompson, Manager of Business Development at the Company, BSC GradDip, whois a reservoir engineer (SPE) with over 15 years experience within the sector. Reserve Estimates The Company's reserve estimate stated in the announcement is made in accordancewith guidelines published by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and is based onmanagement's interpretation of the available data. The estimate has not beenaudited by an independent reserve auditor. Reserve Definitions* 1P - Proved Reserves 2P - Proved and Probable Reserves 3P - Proved, Probable and Possible Reserves Proved Reserves are the estimated volumes of crude oil, condensate, natural gasand natural gas liquids which, based upon geologic and engineering data, arereasonably certain to be commercially recovered from known reservoirs underexisting economic and political/regulatory conditions and using conventional orexisting equipment and operating methods. When probabilistic methods are used,reasonable certainty means there is a 90% probability that the quantitiesproduced will exceed the estimate of proved reserves. Proved reserves arelimited to those quantities of hydrocarbons which have been evaluated either byactual production or by analytical tools and methods which demonstratereasonable certainty of future recovery. Probable Reserves are those reserves which geologic and engineering datademonstrate with a degree of certainty sufficient to indicate they are morelikely to be recovered than not. When probabilistic methods are used, there isat least a 50% probability that the quantities actually produced will exceed thesum of proved and probable reserves. Possible Reserves are those reserves which geologic and engineering datademonstrate are less certain than probable reserves and can be estimated with alow degree of certainty, insufficient to indicate whether they are more likelyto be recovered than not. When probabilistic methods are used, there should beat least a 10% probability that the quantities actually produced will exceed thesum of proved, probable and possible reserves. Operations Leed Petroleum PLC is an AIM quoted independent oil and gas exploration andproduction company. The Company's operations are concentrated in the Gulf ofMexico region where Leed has established a significant portfolio of producingand development assets. The Company has interests in 16 offshore fields and 1onshore field in the region. Leed's strategy is to grow the Company's portfolio through organic developmentof its existing assets and to utilise its regional expertise to identify andpurchase value adding assets. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange