PPC.L Regulatory News (PPC)

24 Jul 2006 07:00

Meridian Petroleum PLC24 July 2006 24 July 2006 MERIDIAN PETROLEUM PLC ("Meridian" or "the Company") AUSTRALIAN NATIVE TITLE AGREEMENT SIGNED Meridian Petroleum (AIM: MRP), the oil & gas company with key assets in the USAand Australia, today announces the signing of an agreement ("the Agreement") inrespect of its Australian PELA 132 licence Native Title Claim. The Native Title Claim Group and its governing body ATLA hold the traditionalland rights to the licence area and their agreement is required prior to anyexploration being undertaken. The principle terms of the Agreement require Meridian to pay: • A signature payment of AUS$60,000 • An annual administration fee of AU$15,000, subject to annual inflation adjustment • An annual royalty of 1% of production These terms are in line with other recently negotiated native title claimsettlements. The Agreement will now be referred to the South AustralianMinister of Mines and Petroleum for execution. PELA 132, in the Arrowie Basin, onshore South Australia contains the Doloresprospect which is 40km from the existing Moomba to Adelaide gas pipeline linkingthe Cooper Basin gas fields to the South Australian gas consumers. Meridian hasa 100% working interest in the licence and is planning to drill the DeloresProspect later this year. Meridian recently announced the results of a Scott Pickford evaluation of theDelores Prospect which assigned a "best estimate" Gas-In-Place of 547 Bcf(approximately 91mmboe) and an estimated P50 gas recoverable of 432 Bcf(approximately 72 mmboe). Anthony Mason, Chief Executive of Meridian said: "The signing of this Native Title Agreement represents the culmination of over 2years of negotiations and is a major step forward in the development of ourAustralian assets. Scott Pickford recently assigned an estimated 432Bcf P50recoverable gas reserve to the prospect. We are now reviewing the best way inwhich to exploit this prospect and anticipate drilling will commence at the turnof the year". Enquiries: Meridian Petroleum (020 7409 5041) Tony Mason, Chief Executive Westhouse Securities (020 7601 6100) Richard Morrison Citigate Dewe Rogerson (020 7638 9571) Media enquiries: Martin Jackson / George Cazenove Analyst enquiries: Nina Soon This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange