Petro Matad Regulatory News (MATD)

1 May 2008 07:01

Petro Matad Limited01 May 2008 news release 1 May 2008 Petro Matad Limited First Day of Dealings Petro Matad Limited ("Petro Matad" or the "Company") is pleased to announce itsintroduction to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and the first day ofdealings in its ordinary shares under ticker symbol MATD. Petro Matad is thefirst substantially Mongolian owned company to be quoted on any majorinternational stock exchange. The number of shares in issue following admission is 96,680,004. Hanson Westhouse is acting as Nominated Adviser and Broker to the Company. The Company Petro Matad is the parent company of a group focused on oil exploration, as wellas future development and production of oil in Mongolia. The Group's principalasset is 100% participation in a Production Sharing Contract over Block XX, apetroleum block covering an area of 18,956km(2) in eastern Mongolia. Investment Highlights • Onshore low cost exploration and development - key targets within Block XX believed to be at between 500 metres and 2,050 metres depth • Near term development potential - key leads and prospects identified • Adjacent to proven hydrocarbon system - the adjacent Block XIX is owned and operated by Daqing Oilfield Limited Company, a subsidiary of PetroChina Company Limited, and test production is currently yielding over 2,000 barrels per day • Close proximity to Chinese energy market • The opportunity to participate in the development of a domestic petroleum industry, given that Mongolia currently imports all processed oil products. • Key associations within Mongolia - Petrovis, the largest petroleum products distributor in Mongolia, is the major shareholder in the Company. Strategy Petro Matad intends to focus its resources on further exploration, including theacquisition and analysis of 3D and 2D seismic data in the northern part of BlockXX adjacent to Daqing's productive Block XIX, with the intention of commencing athree year drilling programme in the first half of 2009. The Group also intendsto seek new prospects and opportunities in the oil sector within Mongolia. Mongolia The Mongolian oil sector has an international standard statutory framework whichhas been in place for 17 years without significant revision of commercial terms.Significant oil discoveries have been made in recent years with productionincreasing from 199,797 barrels in 2006 to 592,445 barrels in 2007. Demand foroil from China is increasing and current production in Mongolia is being sold toChina at or around world market prices. Commenting on the Group's admission to AIM Doug McGay, Chief Executive, said: "This important milestone of marrying Mongolian ownership and internationalcapital markets is a significant new step in the development of Mongolia'smarket economy. Petro Matad's introduction to AIM is another step in ourbusiness plan of exploring and developing the assets in Mongolia. We have excellent relationships with key partners in Mongolia and we lookforward to building shareholder and partner value." Further information: Petro Matad Doug McGay- CEO +976 11 331099 Hanson Westhouse +44 20 7601 6100 Louis CastroRichard Baty Bankside Consultants +44 20 7367 8888 Simon RothschildOliver WintersLouise Mason Notes to Editors Directors The Board comprises: Gordon Leonard Toll, Non-Executive Chairman Mr. Toll is an Australian mining engineer with over 36 years' experience in themining industry. He has an MBA from Columbia University in the USA and is amember of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. His career in themining and minerals industry has included six and a half years with BHP Iron Orein Australia including four years as production manager. Following this, heworked for Texasgulf, Inc. as Manager of Mining International. In the 1980s, heworked for Atlantic Richfield Coal and was involved in building two coal minesin Indonesia and Venezuela. He then worked for seven years with Rio Tinto wherehe became the Group Mining Executive based in London. Until 2001, he was theChairman of Emperor Mines Limited, a gold mining company listed in Australiawith assets in Fiji and concurrently and until December 2004 was Deputy Chairmanof Ivanhoe Mines Limited, listed in Canada and currently exploring a world classcopper/gold deposit in Mongolia. Dr. Janchiv Oyungerel, Non-Executive Deputy Chair Dr. Oyungerel graduated from the Institute of Petrochemical and Gas Industry,Moscow in 1979. She began her career as an economist at the Ulaanbaatar OilTerminal and in 1982 became the Chief Economist at the Petroleum SupplyDepartment at the Mongolian Ministry of Transportation where she was employeduntil 1991. In 1991, she was appointed the General Director of the PetroleumImport Concern of Mongolia and in 1994 became the General Director and Chair ofthe Board of Directors of the government owned company, Neft Import Company(NIC). In 1996, she founded Petrovis LLC and was the General Director untilJanuary 2008 and has been Chair ever since. She has completed an Oil Economicsand Marketing Program at the Arthur D. Little Institute in Cambridge, USA. InJanuary 2007, she completed a doctorate in economics in Moscow, Russia. Since2001, she has been the Chair of the Board of Directors of Prime General(Insurance) Daatgal LLC, and from 2005 the Chair of the Board of Directors ofUnigas LLC. Douglas John McGay, Chief Executive Officer Mr. McGay is a land, mining and engineering surveyor by profession. Between1974 and 1988 he was the principal of his own practice, McGay Surveys. The headoffice was in Kalgoorlie, with offices and operations throughout Australia.Following the sale of McGay Surveys in 1988, he remained involved in the miningand mineral industry as a management consultant to international mining andexploration companies providing computer generated aerial mapping services. In1997, he moved to Mongolia initially pursuing his profession, but then expandingto a general resource industry service consultancy, mainly as the CountryManager for a mineral exploration companies. He was most recently involved informing the Mongolian NGO, the "Minerals and Mining Development Foundation",serving as founding Executive Director. In 2005, he was part of the formationof Central Asian Petroleum Corporation Limited. Mr. McGay lives in Mongolia. Clyde Robert Evans, Finance Director Mr. Evans was a career banker, having spent 37 years with National AustraliaBank (NAB), where he was involved at senior leadership levels. He successfullyled and managed NAB's Western Australian corporate banking centres, catering forNAB's large base of public listed industrial and natural resource companies. Gregory Thomas Meldrum, Technical Director Mr. Meldrum is a petroleum geologist with over 35 years' exploration, productionand new ventures experience, in Australia and internationally, principally withlarge operating oil companies. Mr. Meldrum began his career in 1972 as apetroleum geologist with Burmah Oil Company in Perth, Western Australia. Forthe next 10 years he worked in exploration and production roles for Burmah/Woodside, Esso and Hudbay Oil. From 1982 to 1996, he worked for MarathonPetroleum Australia Ltd where he spent time in Australia, Egypt, Indonesia andTunisia. In 1996, he formed Meldrum Pty Ltd, a petroleum geologicalconsultancy. In 2001, he joined Apache Energy Ltd as Senior Staff Geologist,working on reservoir modelling and prospect generation in the Carnarvon andPerth Basins. In mid-2005, he conducted basin and field reviews in OffshoreMalaysia (Petronas), offshore Sarawak (PCPP) and offshore Gabon, and beganconsulting for the Group, evaluating and advising on the petroleum potential ofMongolia. Mr Meldrum is responsible for managing the technical aspects of PetroMatad's exploration of Block XX. Sarangua Davaadorj, Non-Executive Director After graduating from the Moscow State University Law Faculty with Bachelors andMasters Degrees in International Law, Ms. Sarangua began her career in Mongoliaas in-house counsel at a large national geological and geophysical explorationcompany, where she assisted in the establishment of the first natural resourcedatabase in the country and drafting contracts with international oilexploration companies on behalf of the Government. In 1992, she joined the StateBureau of Mines of Mongolia where she coordinated the restructuring of themining industry and participated in the drafting of the first Mining Law ofMongolia. In 1993, she obtained a Masters of Law from Harvard Law School. In1993, she became General Counsel and a Head of the Department of InternationalCooperation at the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, Ulaanbaatar. In1994, she co-founded Arlex Consulting Services Ltd, one of the first law firmsin Mongolia. In 1998, she became an Associate Director at the International LawInstitute in Washington, DC and a consultant to the World Bank Legal Departmentfor East Asia and the Pacific. From 2001 to 2003, she was Marketing Manager forEmerging Markets at LTB Limited, a firm providing financial and corporateadvisory services. Currently, she is a Managing Director for PITPROP Limited, aLondon based consulting firm working on structuring financing for oil, gas andmining projects in Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Central Asia. Dr. John Campbell Robertson, Non-Executive Director Following his undergraduate studies at the University of St. Andrews, Dr.Robertson completed a doctorate in engineering at the University of Dundee. Dr.Robertson began his career in 1970 with J. Henry Schroder Wagg, the Londonmerchant bank and, in 1972, he joined the corporate finance department of CannonStreet Investments. In 1975, he joined the Ultramar group of companies where heheld a number of senior positions in London, Montreal, Toronto and New York. In1992, he returned to London and joined Durlacher, a UK stockbroker where headvised corporate finance clients. From February 1995 until his retirement inJune 2005, he was a director of Nabarro Wells & Co., the London basedindependent corporate finance advisory firm where he brought a number ofsignificant oil and gas and mining companies to AIM. He is a non-executivedirector of a number of AIM and Australian Stock Exchange quoted companies. Senior managementThe following are the other members of the Group's senior management: Tuul Amarzul, Executive Director of Capcorp Mongolia LLC and Petro Matad LLC Ms. Amarzul is a Mongolian citizen, educated in Singapore and has a BA degree inForeign Relations. She has worked in the Mongolian Government's ForeignInvestment and Foreign Trade Agency (FIFTA). Ms. Tuul joined the resourcessector in Mongolia in 2003, holding senior management positions in privatesector resource companies. Budjav Dendevchuluun, General Manager Mr. Dendevchuluun has 38 years' experience as a geophysicist, engineer andexecutive in various state agencies and private companies. He started work withthe Geophysic-topomapping Authority and went on to be appointed as the Chairmanof the State Industrial Authority of Mongolia. In his latter role, he was one ofthe initiators and developers of the 1991 Petroleum Law of Mongolia. Mr.Dendevchuluun has a BSc degree in geophysical engineering from the Polytechnicof Irkutsk, Russia. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange