PPC.L Regulatory News (PPC)

9 Nov 2006 07:01

Meridian Petroleum PLC09 November 2006 9th November 2006 Meridian Petroleum plc ("Meridian" or the "Company") Joint Venture signed with Ensight Meridian Petroleum plc (AIM: MRP) the oil and gas exploration and productioncompany with assets in the United States and Australia, announces that it hassigned a joint venture agreement ("the JV") with Ensight Partners III inrelation to the Calvin Field in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. The JV is a 50 / 50split in cost and production with Ensight acting as operator. The JV effectively enables Ensight to acquire a 50% participation in theleasehold interest in the Calvin Field held by Meridian. On completion Ensightwill reimburse Meridian for 50% of its costs to date (some $400,000) andcontribute to 50% of costs incurred going forward. The JV also enables Meridianto utilise Ensight's extensive local area expertise and it is envisaged that thework programme will commence in Q1 2007. The initial focus will be the FieldDevelopment study and then the compilation of a detailed plan of exploitation ofboth the upper zone, including Rodessa and Sligo/Pettit down to Calvin Deep andTroy Lime in the lower zone. The execution of the Calvin Field JV further enhances the Company's strategy todiversify the risk spread over their asset base within the US and Australia. The Company also announces it has commenced work on the completion of the Calvin36 #1 well. Additional flow enhancement and clean up work will be conducted andon completion, the Company plans to hook-up to the local pipeline system forflow-testing to begin. Commenting on the JV, Tony Mason, CEO, Meridian stated, "Ensight is a very largeregional player within Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas and we are very excited tohave completed the JV agreement with them. Having Ensight on board furtherendorses the technical and commercial viability of the Calvin Field and we lookforward to reporting on the work programme over the coming months." Ends For further information contact: Meridian Petroleum Plc Ambrian Partners Parkgreen CommunicationsTony Mason Neil MacLachlan Simon Robinson Richard Brown Victoria Thomas00 1 713-599-1611 +44 (0) 20 7776 6400 +44 (0) 20 7493 3713 Notes to Editors About Meridian Meridian is an oil and gas exploration and production company with key assets inthe United States and Australia. Meridian is quoted on the AIM market of theLondon Stock Exchange (ticker: MRP), and is headquartered in London, withoffices in Houston, Texas and Adelaide, Australia. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange