ZOL.L Regulatory News (ZOL)

3 Apr 2007 08:37

Crosby Capital Partners Inc03 April 2007 CROSBY CAPITAL PARTNERS INC. COMPLETION OF TAKEOVER OF ORCHARD PETROLEUM LTD. Crosby Capital Partners Inc. ("Crosby") is pleased to report that today OrchardPetroleum Ltd. ('Orchard") announced, via the Australian Stock Exchange ("ASX"),an update on the South Belridge drilling programme and the Eskdale Petroleum PtyLtd ("Eskdale") takeover. This update confirmed that Orchard has successfully drilled 14 of the current 20well drilling programme and that all of these wells have encounteredhydrocarbons in line with the pre-drill estimates. The first 3 wells are alreadyon production and a further 5 wells will be put on production shortly. In addition, Orchard confirmed the completion of Eskdale's takeover of Orchard. Crosby's CEO, Simon Fry, commented: "I am pleased that we have successfullycompleted the takeover of Orchard. The Merchant Banking team has alreadycommenced working with the Orchard management team to maximise the inherentvalue from this latest addition to Crosby's portfolio." Fry went on to say: "The successful drilling of 16 wells, including 14 in theprolific South Belridge field, all during the takeover process, provides us witha very strong platform to take the business forward. These successes furtherenhance our original view of Orchard's underlying value, and we now anticipateOrchard being able to achieve considerable increases in both production andreserves over the coming months." ABOUT ORCHARD PETROLEUM • Orchard ("OPL") is an upstream oil and gas company exclusively focussed on California. • OPL has a portfolio of 11 high quality projects, the majority of which are operated by OPL. Five of the projects are in partnership with Aera (Shell - Exxon Mobil JV and California's largest producer) and another on acreage leased from Occidental Petroleum. • All of the projects are onshore California in the prolific San Joaquin and Sacramento petroleum basins. Eleven of the top 100 US oil fields are in the San Joaquin basin, including 4 of the top 10. • OPL's project leases are all adjacent to and extensions of existing giant mature producing oil and gas fields (such as the Belridge field), with an abundance of infrastructure to supply the vast US market. ABOUT ESKDALE Eskdale is the corporate vehicle established by Crosby to undertake its takeoverbid for Orchard. Following the successful completion of the takeover, Orchardwill become a wholly owned subsidiary of Eskdale. In addition to the US$50 million bank financing provided to Eskdale byCommonwealth Bank of Australia, Eskdale has funded its acquisition through theissue of preference shares to parties including the Crosby Active OpportunitiesFund, a fund managed by Crosby Asset Management. Following the repayment of acquisition finance, Crosby's direct equity interestin Eskdale will be 23.75%, in addition to which the Crosby Active OpportunitiesMaster Fund (which is a fund managed by Crosby) will have approximately 16%. About Crosby Capital Partners Crosby Capital Partners Inc. is a leading independent deal-focused Asia-orientedmerchant banking and asset management group. Crosby is quoted on the AIM marketof the London Stock Exchange. Further details can be found on the Company'swebsite www.crosby.com. For further information on Crosby please contact: Steve Fletcher, Chief Operating Officer on +44 20 7590 2800 Orchard Petroleum Limited ("Orchard" or the "Company") 3 April 2007 Joint ASX and Media Announcement Orchard Update--South Belridge Drilling Program and Eskdale Takeover Orchard Petroleum Limited (ASX: OPL) ("Orchard") and Orchard Petroleum Inc. ("OPInc."), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orchard, are pleased to provide an updateon the South Belridge Project and the Eskdale Takeover. South Belridge Drilling Program Summary Fifteen wells have been drilled as part of the 20 well South Belridge drillingprogram expected to finish in May. The first well drilled was a water disposalwell and the subsequent fourteen wells have been drilled as producing wells thathave successfully encountered oil and gas in the main Diatomite formation beingdeveloped. Each of these fourteen wells has tested at or above pre--drillexpectations. In addition, all but one of the producing wells have encounteredgas shows in the shallower Etchegoin formation. Currently, eight of the recently drilled wells have been successfully completedwith multi staged hydraulic tracing. Of the completed wells, three are alreadyon production and the remaining five are scheduled to be put on productionshortly. In the second half of April, a further frac completion program isplanned for the other six wells which have already been drilled. Current Drilling Activity SB 214-7 Well The SB 214-7 well was spudded on 6 March 2007 (Pacific Coast Time, USA) and on11 March 2007 had reached a depth of 4,733 teet. The coil tubing parted andseveral unsuccessful attempts with a service rig were made to retrieve theparted tubing at the bottom of the hole. The decision was made to set a plugabove the parted tubing and kick off a side track once the SB 213-7 well wascompleted. The Coiled Tubing Rig has currently returned to the 214-7 locationand is in the process of drilling the side track. The mud log for the wellrecorded gas shows in the shallow Etchegoin Formation along with good oil andstrong gas shows in the Belridge Diatomite Formation. Besides the consistentDiatomite oil shows, the gas shows were very strong with a gas unit reading ofover 5,000 being recorded in the lower intervals. SB 213-7 Well SB 213-7 well was spudded on 19 March 2007 (Pacific Coast Time, USA) and reacheda total depth of 4,862 feet on 24 March 2007 (Pacific Coast Time, USA). Electriclogs were run, casing was set and Coiled Tubing Rig was released on 26 March2007 (Pacific Coast Time, USA). Gas shows were recorded in the shallow Etchegoin Formation and good oil and verystrong gas shows were recorded in the Belridge Diatomite Formation. The mud logrecorded a 7,460 unit gas reading in the lower intervals, the highest gasreading reported at South Belridge thus far. Overall, the Belridge Diatomite oiland gas shows were consistent with those seen across the South Belridge acreageposition. Update on Eskdale Takeover Offer The Eskdale Takeover Oiler closed successfully at 7.00pm (Sydney time) on 15March 2007. At close Eskdale Petroleum Pty Ltd ("Eskdale") had interests in96.17% of Orchard, including acceptances under its takeover offer. Eskdale iscurrently moving to the compulsory purchase of Orchard. Payments to the Orchardshare and option holders who have accepted the Eskdale offer are expected to bemailed on 5 April 2007. Comments The Orchard Board would like to extend its thanks and appreciation to theOrchard shareholders for all their support. It has been a pleasure representingour shareholders and we wish them all the success in the future. For further information please contact Mr Steve Graves on 0011 18054694656 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange