Pantheon Resources plc Regulatory News (PANR)

25 Jan 2008 15:38

Pantheon Resources PLC25 January 2008 The following amendment has been made to RNS 5780M Production for the October to December 2007 period averaged 1.1 mmcfd and not asoriginally shown. All other details are unchanged. Pantheon Resources plc - AGM Statements Pantheon Resources, the AIM-listed oil and gas exploration company active in theGulf of Mexico, held its AGM today. The following statement was made by thenon-executive Chairman, Sue Graham "In the period since the last Annual General Meeting the Company has evolvedsignificantly and positively. The past 12 months have put the company on animproved footing, despite a non-commercial well in the deeper sections of PlumDeep on Padre Island. A nine well drilling programme since the IPO has yielded six discoveries. Threeof these were made since the last AGM, including the two most significant;Wilson and Dunn Deep #2. These two were brought on-stream within the last sixmonths. This has led to Pantheon's net production on a working interest ("WI")basis rising sharply from around 80 thousand cubic feet a day ("mcfd") at endJune to over one million cubic feet a day ("mmcfd") at year end. Production forthe October to December 2007 period averaged 1.1 mmcfd. In future, productionfigures will be released on a quarterly basis in line with industry practice andwill be published on the website. Pantheon faces an active and exciting drilling programme over the next six totwelve months. The company is currently drilling a high-impact oil and gasprospect in South Louisiana on the Nottoway Prospect. Pantheon also has afurther two high impact prospects at Bullseye and Point Clair, both located inSouth Louisiana. In 2008 these three wells will test a P-50 reserve potential ofaround 5 million barrels of oil equivalent ("mmboe") net to Pantheon on a WIbasis. In view of these and other opportunities, Pantheon has decided againstparticipating in the drilling of the Manzano prospect. Review of the overallcommercial terms and the known increase in risk profile compared with theseother opportunities are the key factors behind this decision. Financially, since the financial year-end Pantheon has raised £900,000 by way ofa placing of 1.5 million shares. The proceeds from this placing, together withrevenues from the company's production, should provide Pantheon with the fundsto carry the company through its drilling commitments. Pantheon has not escaped from the trends besetting the oil and gas industry overthis past year. General industry costs have risen, wells have been delayed dueto a tight rig market and the general workforce has suffered from inexperienceleading to hold-ups and setbacks. For Pantheon, for example, both the drilling and analysis of the Plum Deepprospect proved costly. A significant part of the doubling of costs resultedfrom the need to core the deeper section to determine commerciality. The wellmay have pay in the shallower section. Unfortunately, the testing of thissection has been continually deferred by the operator due to drillingcommitments on other wells. Pantheon is obviously disappointed by the slow progress of the drilling of theFay Weil Ross #1 well on the Nottoway prospect. Petro-Hunt LLC, the operator hasa programme to sidetrack and drill to total depth. Pantheon remains optimisticand committed to this project and the follow up well on a different lower riskprospect, Point Clair. Pantheon entered 2008 with the hiring of a CEO, Jay Cheatham. Jay brings over 30years experience in the oil and gas industry to Pantheon. A native of NorthLouisiana, Jay grew up in an oil and gas family both in Louisiana and also inTexas. Jay enjoyed a successful career at Arco, culminating as President of ArcoInternational, the division responsible for all Arco activity outside NorthAmerica. Prior to joining Arco International, Jay was responsible for all Arco'sexploration and production activities in the Gulf Coast region of the US. Hiscapabilities in all aspects of the oil and gas business are especially relevantfor a company such as Pantheon and the board believes that the company isfortunate in securing his services. With such an experienced industry individual in place, I expect that Jay will beactive in determining and implementing his strategic plan over the comingmonths. On a sad note personally Bob Rosenthal, Pantheon's Technical Director, hasinformed me of his intention to stand-down from the board due to the pressure ofhis commitments. Bob was a key figure in founding Pantheon and the company hasbenefited from his experience and advice since its formation. FortunatelyPantheon will not be losing Bob's abilities totally as he has agreed to continueto be involved as a consultant to the company. The Board is excited about Pantheon's prospects for growth based on its currentdrilling programme, prospect inventory, and management" Jay Cheatham, Pantheon's CEO made the following additional comments "I am excited to return to the industry with Pantheon. It's the same businesswhether a super-major or small oil company, only the zeros are different. Goodexploration prospects and reservoirs along with good management and judgementlead to wealth creation. There's no business with the leverage and excitement ofthis one. I know as shareholders you all want Pantheon to drill the wells as predicted.This just isn't possible in an industry where so many things can go wrong. Thetight rig market also adds a complexity to well timing. For instance once we haddrilled Plum Deep which took longer than planned, all the wells scheduled forthat particular rig were delayed by that same time. Pantheon has several high impact prospects in the portfolio. However, I didn'tjoin to run a company with a £10mln or even £20mln market capitalisation. TheBoard and I are already developing a plan to grow significantly the company. Ilook forward to sharing that plan with you at the appropriate time. In ordermore actively to manage that plan and Pantheon's assets and growth I will moveto the U.S. this summer." For further information on Pantheon Resources plc, see the website atwww.pantheonresources.com - end - Further information: Pantheon Resources PLCJay Cheatham CEO +44 777 170 3433 Oriel Securities LimitedScott Richardson Brown +44 20 7710 7600 Notes to editors: Pantheon Resources plc Pantheon Resources plc was formed in 2005 to be an independent gas explorationcompany focused on hydrocarbon producing basins onshore or near shore the Gulfof Mexico. On 5 April 2006, Pantheon was admitted to the AIM, havingsuccessfully raised £10m from a mix of quality institutional and privateinvestors. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange