MTA.L Regulatory News (MTA)

31 Jul 2007 10:21

Matra Petroleum PLC31 July 2007 PRESS RELEASE For immediate release: 31st July 2007 Matra Petroleum plc Matra Petroleum AGM The Directors of Matra Petroleum plc are pleased to announce that allresolutions were duly passed at the company's AGM held earlier today. Peter Hind, Matra's Managing Director issued the following statement: "In 2006 we were able to lay the groundwork for the 2007 exploration programme.We completed the detailed technical work on the Inke Concession in Hungary andreviewed a number of new opportunities, particularly in Russia. We are delighted that the first exploration well, Horvatkut-1, of the two well2007 drilling programme on the Inke Concession in Hungary discovered gas. Thesecond well on the Inke Concession, Marcali-1, is progressing on schedule. The Horvatkut-1 well test results were better than our pre-drill expectationsand have confirmed the benefit of the hi-tech seismic reprocessing completedlast year. Further testing of this well will confirm the relative contributionsof each producing zone and quantify the condensate production seen on theoriginal test. The schedule for this testing will be confirmed once the currentdrilling programme is completed. Our pre-drill evaluations indicated an economicthreshold of 1.5-2 mmscfd, whereas the test data indicates that the well iscapable of producing in excess of 6 mmscfd under normal conditions. Further data acquisition from this field and the result of nearby Marcali-1 willassist us greatly in pursuing the optimum development case for this discovery. Also in Hungary, the 2007 Inke seismic acquisition programme is underway. Wecurrently expect that this seismic acquisition and the results of the currentdrilling programme will lead to further drilling in Inke at the end of this yearor early in 2008. Our review of Russian opportunities led us to make the acquisition of ourRussian subsidiary "OOO" Arkhangelovskoe where we recently began drilling ourfirst exploration well. Drilling of this potentially "high impact" well is onschedule and currently the well is at 650m. Our current plan is to begin the second and third wells on this license during2007. We are also continuing to evaluate new opportunities, mainly in Orenburg butalso in other Oblasts within the region and Hungary. We now have an operating office in Orenburg, Russia as well as in Budapest andour headquarters in Chertsey. Our Board has been strengthened with the additionof Gideon Tadmor of Delek as a non-executive Director. We have made enormous progress over the last 12 months and it is gratifying tosee our technical strategy delivering success. Such progress has only been possible through the dedicated efforts of our staffand consultants in all three countries and I look forward to reporting ourcontinued progress during the remainder in 2007." mmscfd - million standard cubic feet per day For the purposes of AIM Rule 11, this announcement has been reviewed by MatraPetroleum's Managing Director, Peter Hind BSc, a Petroleum Engineer of more than30 years standing and a member of the SPE. For further information, please contact: Matra Petroleum www.matrapetroleum.comPeter Hind, Managing Director +44 (0) 7990 807855Neil Hodgson, Exploration Director +44 (0) 7973 342822 Aquila Financial Limited www.aquila-financial.comPeter Reilly +44 (0) 20 7202 2601Yvonne Fraser +44 (0) 20 7202 2609 Matra's nominated Advisor is RFC Corporate Finance Ltd -Contact: Steve Allen +61894802500 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange