Parkmead Regulatory News (PMG)

26 October 2012

The Parkmead Group plc

("Parkmead", "the Company" or "the Group")

Parkmead Awarded Stakes in 25 Blocks in the UKCS 27th Licensing Round

Parkmead, the independent oil and gas company, is delighted to announce that it has been provisionally awarded several new licences under the UKCS 27th Licensing Round, the results of which were announced by the Energy Minister yesterday. The six new licences comprise interests in a total of 25 offshore blocks or partial blocks across the UKCS.

Parkmead has also applied for certain licences in the 27th Round within the UKCS Southern Gas Basin, where the Company already has operations and drilled the successful horizontal appraisal well through the Platypus gas field this summer. Parkmead notes that most of the 27th Round applications pertaining to blocks close to, or in, certain Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs), which include a number of blocks in the Southern Gas Basin, have not yet been awarded by the UK Government.

As operator, Parkmead led a major suite of applications for new UK licences across the Central North Sea, Southern North Sea, West of Scotland and West of Shetlands reflecting Parkmead's ambitious growth plans to build through exploration in its core area of the North Sea and via acquisition at both an asset and corporate level.

The following awards have been offered to Parkmead and its joint bidding groups:

Central North Sea

Parkmead has been awarded three licences which include stakes in eight blocks in the prolific Central North Sea.

Block 15/16e (Parkmead 34% and operator) lies immediately to the north east of the Parkmead operated Perth oil field and contains two Jurassic oil prospects which could provide valuable additional oil volumes to the Perth development. The work programme consists of reprocessing of the existing 3D to refine the trapping geometries and a drill or drop decision within two years.

Blocks 29/27, 29/28, 37/3 and 37/4 (Parkmead 100% and operator) lie south west of the Auk oil field and contain a large gas prospect with numerous adjacent smaller satellites. The work programme consists of obtaining additional 2D seismic to mature the prospect mapping and a drill or drop decision within two years.

Blocks 30/12c, 30/13c and 30/18c (Parkmead 30.5% and operator) lie in the Central Graben immediately to the north of the Orion oil field. The blocks contain three oil prospects and one lead. The two most significant prospects are stacked and can be tested by a single well. The work programme consists of reprocessing the existing 3D seismic to refine a well location, and a firm exploration well targeting the sizeable Skerryvore prospect within four years.

West of Scotland

The Company has been awarded one large licence spanning ten blocks in the frontier Rockall Trough area.

Blocks 132/3, 132/4, 132/8, 132/9, 132/13, 132/14, 132/18, 132/19, 142/28 and 142/29 (Parkmead 100%) contain three leads, two of which are in the shallow Eocene horizon and can be significantly de-risked by seismic amplitude and AVO analysis. The work programme consists of obtaining the existing 3D seismic, detailed amplitude and AVO analysis, and a drill or drop decision within six years.

West of Shetland

Parkmead has been awarded two licences spanning seven blocks in the exciting West of Shetland province.

Block 205/12 (Parkmead 30% and operator) contains a major Palaeocene oil prospect (Davaar) lying between the Schiehallion oil field and the Laggan-Tormore gas development. The prospect is at the same stratigraphic horizon as the adjacent discoveries and can be de-risked by detailed seismic amplitude and AVO analysis. The work programme consists of seismic reprocessing to generate AVO volumes and a drill or drop well within four years.

Blocks 205/23, 205/24, 205/25, 205/28, 205/29 and 205/30 (Parkmead 43% and operator) contain a gas discovery (Bombardier) and two oil leads, one of which is the very large cretaceous Eddystone lead, positioned on the flanks of the Rona Ridge between the Lancaster oil discovery and the Clair oil field. The work programme consists of obtaining additional 2D seismic to mature the trapping geometries of the discovery and leads, and a drill or drop well within six years.

Tom Cross, Executive Chairman of Parkmead, commented,

"We are delighted with these extensive new licence awards, which will significantly increase our oil and gas operations on the UKCS.

These awards complete an exceptional year for Parkmead, in which we have secured first production for the Group in the Netherlands and also expanded our asset base in the UK North Sea through the acquisition of DEO Petroleum plc. These steps have both increased Parkmead's operating capability and also grown its oil and gas reserves.

In addition, we recently completed a successful horizontal well to appraise the Platypus gas field, and are currently drilling our first North Sea exploration well targeting the Spaniards East prospect.

Therefore during 2012 Parkmead has established a balanced portfolio of exploration, development and producing assets, which will ensure the Company's future growth."

For enquiries please contact:

Notes to Editors: 

1. Parkmead is an independent oil and gas company that is listed on AIM on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: PMG). Parkmead's primary focus is in the upstream oil and gas exploration and production sector, targeting transactions at both asset and corporate levels.

2. In November 2011, Parkmead completed the acquisition of stakes in UK Blocks 48/1a, 47/5b and 48/1c containing the Platypus gas field, discovered in 2010, and the Possum gas prospect. The next well at Platypus is expected to start drilling in March 2012, and mapping indicates the potential for Platypus to contain up to 180 billion cubic feet of gas in place.

3. In December 2011, Parkmead announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire stakes in blocks 47/4d, 47/5d, 47/10c and 48/6c in the UK Southern North Sea, which contain the large Pharos gas prospect. This structure has the potential to hold up to 500 billion cubic feet of gas in place. These two acquisitions have marked important steps in Parkmead's first stage of its development as a new independent energy company. This acquisition completed in February 2012.

4. In March 2012, Parkmead announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire a portfolio of Netherlands onshore assets comprising four producing gas fields and two oil fields from Dyas B.V. The acquisition of these assets provides the Group with its first producing assets. At the effective date of the acquisition, 1 January 2012, these assets were producing at a rate of approximately 2,000 boepd, being 300 boepd net to Parkmead. In addition, the portfolio being acquired provides the Group with near term oil developments at Ottoland and Papekop with the former forecast to come onstream later in 2012 or in 2013. This acquisition completed in August 2012.

5. In May 2012, Parkmead announced that it had reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended acquisition of the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of DEO by Parkmead to be implemented by way of a Court sanctioned Scheme of Arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Scheme").The Scheme became effective on the 9th August 2012. DEO's principal asset is its interest in the Perth field in the UKCS. DEO owns 52% and is operator of the Perth Field. The Perth field is targeting Proven and Probable (2P) reserves of 21.5mmbls (net to DEO).

6. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Aupec Ltd., the Parkmead Group provides petroleum economics, benchmarking and valuation expertise to a wide range of government bodies and international oil and gas companies. Aupec has to date worked with over 100 governments, national oil companies, majors and independents, across the world, as well as a number of multi-national agencies such as the European Commission and the World Bank. Aupec is currently undertaking an important benchmarking project for a group of the world's largest super-major oil companies.

For further information please refer to Parkmead's website at www.parkmeadgroup.com and Aupec's website at www.aupec.com