VOG.L Regulatory News (VOG)

28 Jul 2009 08:46



28 July 2009

Victoria Oil & Gas Plc

('VOG' or 'the Company')

(AIM: VOG)

170 Million Barrels of Oil Equivalent C3 Resources Approved for West Medvezhye Project, Russia

Calculation of C3 recoverable resources of approximately 170 million barrels of oil equivalent for three structures at West Medvezhye gas and condensate project in Western Siberia, Russia 

More than 30 potential structures identified and approved by Russian Ministry of Natural Resources ("MNR") 

Victoria Oil & Gas Plc, the oil and gas company with assets in Cameroon and the FSU announces that the MNR has approved independently calculated Russian category C3 resources for three structures within its West Medvezhye project ("West Med").

The resources were calculated by independent local geological institute SibNats as part of the exploration assessment of West Med based on existing 2D seismic and drilling data. This assessment and its conclusions on prospectivity, prepared as part of VOG's exploration programme for the project, were then reviewed and accepted by the MNR.

In March 2008, the MNR approved recoverable C1 + C2 reserves of 14.4 million barrels of oil equivalent based on the results from the first discovery well, Well 103. After further analysis of existing 2D seismic data, the MNR concurs with the identification of over 30 potential structures in the 1,224 square kilometre licence block. Of these, C3 resources have been calculated for three structures (East Nadymskaya, Pogodnaya and Yarunsnaya) as follows:

In August 2006, independent reserve auditors DeGolyer and MacNaughton ("D&M") calculated best estimate gross prospective recoverable resources of approximately 1.1 billion barrels for the entire West Med field according to SPE classification standards. The above resource estimate approved by the MNR is based on three structures only within the West Med field according Russian resource classifications, which do not necessarily correlate to SPE standards.

Kevin Foo, Chairman of Victoria Oil & Gas said of these results today, "The West Med project continues to gain momentum. We have worked closely with the Russian authorities on our strategy of thorough delineation of the subsurface potential and these results are very satisfying. West Med remains one of our brightest prospects and we are planning further subsurface work in the winter."

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

The information in this release has been reviewed by Radwan Hadi, who is a qualified person for the purposes of the AIM Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies. Mr. Hadi, Deputy Managing Director of Blackwatch Petroleum Services Limited and Chief Operating Officer of VOG, is a petroleum/reservoir engineer with over 25 years experience in oil and gas exploration and production.

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 encountered gas. Three of the 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.