RPT.L Regulatory News (RPT)

2 Sep 2005 07:01

Regal Petroleum PLC02 September 2005 Immediate Release 2 September 2005 REGAL PETROLEUM PLC ("Regal" or the "Company") Corporate, Operational and Trading Update The Directors announce the following update on corporate, operational andtrading matters:- Greece Operational Update: During August 2005 the Company's subsidiary in Greece, Kavala Oil, has experienced a degree of industrial unrest which hasrecently escalated. In an attempt to resolve this situation the Company has metwith representatives of the Union at Kavala Oil and the relevant Ministry of theGreek Government. The Company's actions in the face of the local difficultiesare inevitably dictated by concerns for the safety of its operations and localstaff. Accordingly, the Company has issued instructions for the operations to beshut down whilst this dispute continues. In addition, having experienced technical difficulties in recent weeks resultingin disappointing production from its two recent well workovers, PA6 and PB27,the Company has taken the decision to suspend its well workover programme. TheCompany is now studying the potential for production from the Prinos field andoptions for the exploration, appraisal of existing undeveloped oil, developmentopportunities and future production in Greece. The Company discussed a number ofalternative proposals in this regard with the relevant Ministry of the GreekGovernment in a meeting held on 31 August 2005 and the Greek Government isactively considering these proposals. Trading Update: In the announcement dated 29 July 2005, the Company stated that,following the implementation of its well workover programme it expected dailyproduction in Greece to reach 3,500 barrels of oil per day by the end of 2005.Following the disappointing results of the two workovers mentioned above, it islikely that the anticipated increase in daily production rates will not be met.This shortfall in production is exacerbated by the current industrial dispute inGreece. Accordingly, given the issues described above, the Board believes it is likelythat the Company will not meet current market expectations for the year ended 31December 2005. Audit of Reserves: The reserves reports on the Company's proven and probablereserves in Greece and Ukraine are still being finalised by the respectiveindependent auditors. The Board expects to announce the results of the reserveaudits for Greece and Ukraine no later than the date of its interim results on28 September 2005. Notice of Interim Results: The Company will be announcing its interim resultsfor the six months ended 30 June 2005 on Wednesday, 28 September 2005. Apresentation to analysts and private client brokers will be held at the officesof Buchanan Communications, 107 Cheapside, London at 9.30am. For further information, please contact: Regal Tel: 020 7408 9500Roger Phillips, Finance Director Buchanan Communications Tel: 020 7466 5000Bobby Morse / Ben Willey This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange