Petrel Resources Regulatory News (PET)

13 Sep 2006 07:30

Petrel Resources PLC13 September 2006 Strategic Partnership Petrel Resources is pleased to announce a strategic partnership and cooperationagreement with ITOCHU Corporation ("ITOCHU"). The strategic partnership willcover future exploration and development activities in the Iraqi oil and gasindustry. ITOCHU is one of the largest and most respected Japanese conglomerates. ITOCHUlaunched its upstream activities in Indonesia and Sakhalin Island in the 1970sand has been a successful player in the upstream energy sector ever sincethrough its active participation in the challenging environments of Algeria andAzerbaijan, as well as other oil producing regions such as the North Sea andWestern Australia. In addition to the above-mentioned upstream activities, theITOCHU group is also one of the largest traders of crude oil in the Far East andis a major force in numerous business sectors, including areas such as steelpipe supply, finance, logistic and plant businesses. The cooperation agreement between Petrel and ITOCHU will initially cover work onthe Merjan oil field under a Technical Cooperation Agreement with the IraqiMinistry of Oil, subject to applicable laws. ITOCHU will also have a first lookat future Petrel projects in the Iraqi oil & gas upstream sector. As part of the cooperation agreement, ITOCHU will contribute towards Petrel'shistoric costs in the Iraqi oil & gas sector and will cover a fixed share of thecosts of the current study. Petrel Managing Director David Horgan welcomed the development: 'We have gotten to know ITOCHU well over several years. There is a near perfectfit with Petrel. ITOCHU, one of Japan's leading companies, with its strongbalance sheet and long-term perspective, is a strong player in upstream oil andgas business. There is no better partner for us in our quest to expand anddeepen our Iraqi activities." A fuller Corporate Profile is available on the ITOCHU website at: http://www.itochu.co.jp/main/index_e.html For further information please contact:Petrel Resources Plc David Horgan + 353 87 292 3500John Teeling +353 1 833 2833Corporate Synergy Ian Rice +44 (0) 117 933 0020Craig Howie +44 (0) 20 7448 4400 www.petrelresoucrces.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange