Urals Energy Plc Regulatory News (UEN)

15 Apr 2008 07:01

Urals Energy Public Company Limited15 April 2008 Urals Energy Public Company Limited ("Urals Energy" or the "Company") DULISMA FIELD DEVELOPMENT Urals Energy, a leading independent exploration and production company withoperations in Russia, today announces an update on the development of theCompany's Dulisma field, East Siberia. Highlights • Successfully completed appraisal of well #105 with higher than expected flow results • Second new drilling rig delivered to the field on schedule • Completed preparatory work for the Central Processing Facility and began tie-in pipeline construction • On track to commence exporting to the East Siberia to Pacific Ocean pipeline ("ESPO") by Q2 2009 Drilling Operations As part of the ongoing field development plan, the Company has completed thedrill stem test of the vertical pilot hole of appraisal well #105. Followingpositive flow results, well logging is being conducted to thoroughly appraisethe reservoir prior to drilling the planned horizontal well. Final completion ofwell #105 and hook up to production is expected by the beginning of June. Untilsuch time as the Dulisma field is hooked up to ESPO, production from the fieldwill be evacuated by a temporary pipeline and trucks. Rig Delivery and Field Construction Earlier this month, Urals took delivery of its second newly built rig fromChina. This was done on schedule and now allows the Company to begin productiondrilling with 2 rigs for the remainder of the year. A further two rigs areplanned to be mobilized for next winter. Significant progress has also been made with construction of the fieldfacilities. Preparatory work for the Central Processing Facilities has beencompleted and piling for key equipment and buildings is now underway. Right ofWay clearance and preparation for the pipeline connection to Transneft's ESPOsystem is approximately half complete and all the required linepipe has beenstockpiled at each end (Dulisma field and Nadezhdinsk ESPO tie-in point), aswell as at an interim station at the river Tunguska. At present, 14 km of linehas been welded from the Dulisma end and double jointing operations havecommenced at Nadezhdinsk. Overall, the Company has spent about $32 million of its own money to financeDulisma development in 2008 to date. Following the announcement of well #105'sdrill stem test, the remaining $140 million tranche of the Sberbank Dulismadevelopment loan will now become available for drawdown, in several installmentsagainst an agreed schedule for development of the field. Design work on the remaining facilities, including the Central Transfer Facilityat the ESPO connection, is being finalized and tendering for construction willtake place in May with mobilization planned for early Q3 when weather conditionsare more suitable. The Company remains on track to begin exporting oil in early Q2 2009 into theESPO system which reportedly is now being partially filled from Taishet and isplanned to receive line fill from the Talakan field later this year. The Company continues to make progress on the disposal of its non-core assetsand will provide further details when appropriate. 15 April 2008 Enquiries:Pelham PRGavin Davis +44(0)20 7743 6677 / +44(0)7910 104 660Evgeniy Chuikov +44(0)20 3008 5506 / +44(0)7894 608 606 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange