7 Jul 2011 07:00
7 July 2011
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc
('VOG' or 'the Company')
(AIM: VOG)
West Medvezhye Operational Update
Highlights:
·; Estimated 400 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in-place in six features mapped by passive seismic and gas tomography surveys
·; Reprocessing of 845 km of 2D seismic is complete and geophysical/geological modelling underway
·; Development studies in progress to commercialise the Well-103 discovery and prospective resources
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc, (AIM: VOG), the AIM quoted oil and gas exploration and development company with assets in Cameroon and the FSU, today provides an update on its appraisal and delineation programme in the West Medvezhye, (West Med) oil, gas and condensate licence area in Russia.
West Med Regional Background
VOG's wholly owned subsidiary, ZAO SeverGas-Invest (SGI), holds a 20-year Exploitation Licence for West Med covering 1,224 km2. The block is located in the Yamal Peninsula in the Nenets region of Siberia and was independently assessed in 2006 by DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M) to have total prospective resources of approximately 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe). West Med is located in one of the most prolific oil and gas producing areas of the world and is adjacent to Gazprom's giant Medvezhye field that has already produced over 70 trillion cubic feet of gas.
In total, D&M identified 25 leads and prospects and the Company's first discovery in West Med, Well 103, was based on a prospect defined by D&M. The discovery has C1 and C2 reserves, independently assessed, under the Russian classification convention of 14.4 million boe as approved by the Russian Ministry of Natural resources.
West Med Appraisal Update
Whilst VOG's principal focus has been the development and commencement of gas and condensate production at Logbaba in Cameroon which is scheduled for Q4 2011, SGI's technical team and consultants Blackwatch Petroleum Services (Blackwatch) have been utilising this time to acquire data and to carry out integrated multi-discipline studies in West Med.
This work has involved integration of new data with previous seismic and well data to screen and firm up the prospects and leads identified by D&M.
Passive Seismic and Gas Tomography Surveys
New data acquired in 2010 included 155 passive seismic points recorded by GeoDynamics Research S.r.l. (GDR) and 289 km lines of gas tomography data recorded by Exotrad Limited. The surveys identified direct hydrocarbon indications in six areas covering a total of 79 km2 in the opinion of GDR and VOG.
Preliminary internal volumetric estimates by the Company, based on these passive seismic areas and regional well and seismic data for reservoir properties, indicate hydrocarbons initially in-place estimated at 400 mmboe by SGI and Blackwatch.
The features are all part of previously identified prospects by D&M, based on conventional seismic, and the volumes were incorporated into the overall assessment of 1.1 billion boe Un-risked Prospective Resource potential for the West Med Block.
Conventional Seismic work
Further to these positive results, in February 2011, the Company commissioned a seismic reprocessing and geological modelling study to be carried out by a Russian geoscience consulting institute, Mineral LLC, (Mineral). The first phase of the technical work, which included reprocessing of 845 km of 2D seismic, was completed in June 2011.
Re-interpretation of the reprocessed seismic data has now commenced and will incorporate the passive seismic and gas tomography results. The results of Mineral's work are scheduled to be considered in a workshop in Tyumen, Russia in July 2011.
West Med Appraisal / Development Planning
In addition to the subsurface technical studies, development studies have commenced for commercialisation of the large prospective resources and exploitation of the Well 103 discovery. These include but are not limited to the following:
Drilling & Well Engineering
Studies have commenced on well design and engineering for future appraisal and development well drilling planned for Q4 2012. The company is in discussions with international and Russian service companies and has compiled initial budgetary estimates for the wells and drill pads.
These studies conclude that the wells may be drilled in clusters of 3 to 10 to significantly reduce location preparation and access cost. This will have a marked impact on development economics.
Surface Production Facilities & Infrastructure
Conceptual design work has commenced to establish costs and schedules for oil, gas and condensate production facilities and supporting infrastructure. The gathering and distribution network design and engineering will be phased with facilities design, starting with fast track development of the Well 103 discovery.
Downstream & Export Issues
There exist several routes to market for the commercialisation of West Med hydrocarbons. The neighbouring town of Nadym is located 44 km away with access by all-weather road. The Chircha railroad station is located within the southwest boundary of the licence and the river port and loading terminal of Old Nadym are located 22 km away. In addition, one of Gazprom's principal gas transmission pipeline's in the area runs along the eastern border of the licence and the nearest Central Gas Processing Unit is located 18.5 km from West Med.
Initial studies have highlighted that an early production scheme of the Well 103 discovery could involve the sale of small volumes of crude into the local market with prices of US$60 per barrel achievable. This would be followed by full scale oil and gas development for export as the oil and gas export market is well established in this part of Siberia.
The results of our preliminary development assessment work on the Well 103 discovery indicate first oil sales in 2015 subject to further refinement and screening.
Mr Radwan Hadi, Chief Operating Officer of the Company, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained within this announcement in his capacity as a qualified person, as required under the AIM rules. Mr Hadi is a petroleum/reservoir engineer with over 30 years experience in oil and gas exploration and production.
For further information, please contact:
Victoria Oil & Gas Plc - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7921 8820
Kevin Foo / Martin Devine
Strand Hanson Limited - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494
Simon Raggett / Angela Peace
Fox-Davies Capital - Tel: +44 (0) 203 463 5000
Daniel Fox-Davies/ David Porter
Tavistock PR - Tel: +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
Ed Portman/ Paul Youens
Background Information on Victoria Oil & Gas Plc:
Victoria Oil & Gas is an independent oil and gas exploration and development 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 project 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 encountered gas. The Company drilled two successful development wells in 2009/10. 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.