1 Sep 2009 10:30
1 September 2009
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc
('VOG' or 'the Company')
(AIM: VOG)
Operational Update
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc, the AIM quoted oil and gas exploration and development company with assets in Cameroon and the FSU, is pleased to announce updates to its operations in Cameroon, Kazakhstan and Russia.
La-105, the first new appraisal well to be drilled at Logbaba since the field was discovered by Elf SEREPCA, was spudded on schedule on 31 August 2009. The well will have a total depth of 10,000 feet (just over 3,000 metres) and will twin Well La-103. The primary target horizon will be the Campanian gas-bearing sands of the Logbaba formation around 6,500 feet. Well La-103 was drilled in 1956 and encountered gross sandstone pay of 56 metres and flowed at approximately 40 million cubic feet of gas per day, which is around 7,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Drilling to total depth is expected to take 60 days, after which the well will be completed and then tested. While testing is on-going at Well La-105, the drilling rig will be moved off the well ready for spudding of the second appraisal well, La-106, from the same location.
In Kazakhstan, the review panel of the Kazakh Supreme Court decided on 27 August 2009 that there was currently no new evidence on which to reconsider the case, but advised VOG to elicit the support of the Kazakh General Prosecutor to advance the Company's appeal. The General Prosecutor has previously supported VOG's protest to the Atyrau Supervisory Court. Further information on the case will be provided to shareholders in due course.
At VOG's West Med field, planning has commenced for a second passive seismic survey to be undertaken at the end of this year. The survey is currently planned to cover a large area of the eastern section of the licence, where the main Medvezhye structure continues into the West Med licence. Earlier this year, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources identified over 30 potential structures in West Med and approved recoverable Russian classification C3 resources in excess of 170 million barrels of oil equivalent to just three of them.
Kevin Foo, Chairman of Victoria Oil & Gas, said today, "The speed and efficiency that our team has displayed in spudding the first well at Logbaba less than 9 months after acquiring the field is exceptional. We should have preliminary results during November and our second well, La-106 is also scheduled for spudding in the final quarter of 2009. We will be shooting more passive seismic at West Med and intend to complete a survey at Logbaba too, as this technology is proving to be a very useful tool for the direct identification of hydrocarbons. With the additional £6 million of funding that was raised last week, VOG is in an excellent position as we enter one of the most exciting periods in our company's history."
For further information, please contact:
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7921 8820
George Donne / Kevin Foo
Strand Partners Limited - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494
Simon Raggett / Angela Peace
Fox-Davies Capital - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7936 5220
Daniel Fox-Davies / Oliver Stansfield
Conduit PR - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7429 6607
Jonathan Charles / Ed Portman
Background Information on Victoria Oil & Gas Plc:
Victoria Oil & Gas is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with projects in Africa and the FSU. The Company's principal assets are the Logbaba gas and condensate project in Cameroon and the West Medvezhye gas field in Siberia, Russia. Logbaba is located in Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon. The field was discovered in the 1950s and all four exploration wells flowed gas at rates of up to 62 million cubic feet per day. West Medvezhye is situated in the prolific Yamal-Nenetsk hydrocarbon region in Siberia. An independent reserve audit estimated prospective resources for the field of over 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Further information on the company can be found at: http://www.victoriaoilandgas.com