PetroNeft Resources plc, owner and operator of Licences 61 and 67, Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation, is pleased to announce that Arawak Energy Limited ("Arawak") has exercised its option to acquire a 50% interest in the Ledovy Licence (Licence 67).
In December 2009 PetroNeft announced that it had been successful in the state auction for the Ledovy Licence in the Tomsk Oblast. Under a 2008 Area of Mutual Interest Agreement ("AMI") Arawak Energy Limited is entitled to participate in up to a 50 percent interest in the Licence. Following technical and commercial review Arawak has elected to acquire its full 50% entitlement, subject to the completion of a mutually agreeable contract under the terms of the AMI.
PetroNeft will remain as operator of the Ledovy Licence and all costs and future income will be shared on a 50:50 basis.
Licence 67
The Ledovy Licence area is located west of the Ob River in the main oil bearing part of the Tomsk Oblast. The Licence has an area of 2,447 km2 and is surrounded by proven and producing oil and gas fields.
Exploration on the Ledovy Licence began in the 1950s with a total of 8 wells being drilled on large prospects identified by vintage seismic data. Modern 2D seismic data was subsequently acquired from 1980 to 2001.
PetroNeft has reviewed the drilled and currently mapped undrilled structures and believes that there is significant upside within existing discoveries, potentially by-passed pay and new exploration prospects within the Licence area. Two of the previously drilled structures, Ledovoye and Sklonavaya, have tested oil but have not yet been assigned reserves. PetroNeft believes that these discoveries have potential to form the basis of a future development project in the Licence, but it is also intended to pursue an active exploration programme. Russian registered C3 (possible) resources are currently 55 million barrels.
2010 Work Programme
The Licence, which was registered on 27 January 2010, is a 25 year exploration and production licence. The initial work commitments are to, within the first 3 years, reprocess old seismic and well data, acquire 750 km of new seismic data and drill at least 1 well. During 2010, work will focus on the overall re-evaluation of all previous well and seismic data within the Licence area utilising the latest technology. This re-evaluation will allow PetroNeft to optimally target new seismic data acquisition during winter 2010/11 to determine the exploration priorities and rank individual prospects for future drilling. It is also possible that some of the old wells could become workover
candidates. This analysis will also form part of the 2010 work programme.
Dennis Francis, Chief Executive Officer of PetroNeft Resources plc, commented:
"We are delighted that Arawak have decided to partner with us in Licence 67. Their quick decision is an important and encouraging technical endorsement of the potential of Licence 67. Work has already commenced and we look forward to working with Arawak on this and other projects in the Tomsk Region".
