MTA.L Regulatory News (MTA)

5 Feb 2008 09:12

Matra Petroleum PLC05 February 2008 PRESS RELEASE For immediate release: 5 February 2008 Matra Petroleum plc ("Matra" or the "Company") Operational Update - Hungary & Russia Matra Petroleum plc (AIM:MTA), the oil and gas E&P company focused on CentralEurope and Russia announces the following operational update in Hungary andRussia: Russia • Production commenced from the Arkhangelovskoe-12 well (Sokolovskoe discovery) on 31st December 2007. Further production and pressure data is being collected during this initial testing phase. The well is producing at ca. 100 bopd and the oil is being sold at the wellsite and trucked to a local rail terminal. The well is scheduled for reperforation and acid stimulation within the next two weeks, in order to improve productivity. • Drilling on the Arkhangelovskoe -11 exploration well is continuing and has reached 800m. We expect to reach the first Devonian reservoir in approximately 35 days time. • The acquisition of a further 130 km of 2 D seismic data on the southern extension of the block and on the northern part of the Sokolovskoe discovery has now been completed and the data is being processed. Reprocessing of the existing seismic over Sokolovskoe and further technical studies in support of the application for a production license are underway. Hungary • Testing on Horvatkut-1 on the Inke Concession in Hungary has now been completed. The well again tested at rates of up to 4 million scfd, however the reservoir intervals were shown to be of limited extent and pressure analysis concludes that the well is unlikely to be economic. The Horvatkut-1 well was a re-drill of an old discovery rather than part of the Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators (DHI) programme. As such this result has no impact on the Marcali-1 discovery or the ongoing exploration programme which is DHI driven. The well has been suspended. • The workover rig is being moved to Marcali-1 and will begin testing operations shortly. • Seismic modelling on the 2007 3D survey has now confirmed the presence of Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators (DHI's) on several of the new prospects recently identified. Drilling of two wells on this new 3D area is expected to commence in the second quarter this year. Peter Hind, Matra's Managing Director said: "We are very pleased to have already established profitable production from ourdiscovery in Russia and we are confident that we should improve wellproductivity very soon with our planned acid treatment and in future byinstalling a pump. Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators significantly de-risk the exploration prospects inthe new playfairway on the Inke concession, and we expect this to bear fruit aswe move forward through our 2008 drilling programme.It's been a busy start to the year and we expect activity to increase throughoutthe year with more wells in both Russia and Hungary." Matra has a 40% interest in the Inke wells and Concession. Horizon HungarianEnergy, a subsidiary of Aspect Holdings and a leading explorer in Hungary, ownsthe remaining 60%. Matra owns a 100% interest in the Arkhangelovskoe Licensethrough its wholly owned Russian subsidiary. The information in this report that relates to technical matters has beencompiled by Dr Neil Hodgson (BSc, Phd) Matra's Exploration Director a PetroleumGeologist with more than 20 years experience and who is a Fellow of theGeological Society and a Member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of GreatBritain (PESGB) . 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-finacial.comPeter Reilly +44 (0) 118 979 4100Yvonne Fraser 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