Circle Oil Tests Gas at CDG-13 Well in Sebou Permit

Circle Oil plc, the North African focused oil and gas exploration, development and production company, is pleased to announce a discovery at the Caid El Gaddari-13 (CGD-13) exploration well on the Sebou Permit, onshore Morocco.

The CGD-13 well spudded on 8 October and reached a TD of 871m on 17 October, significantly ahead of schedule. The target consisted of gas-bearing Miocene sandstones in a structurally elevated position east of the CGD-1 well and west of the CGD-9 well. The well has encountered approximately 5.9m of net pay and an interval of 4.7m was perforated between 791m and 812m.

Testing has been completed and the well has flowed at a rate of 4.45MMcf/d through a 28/64" choke.

The successful well is located 320m northwest of the closest tie-in point on the 75% Circle owned 55km pipeline to Kenitra. The well will be brought into production and produced through the pipeline to Circle customers in Kenitra.

A Successful Morocco Campaign
This discovery concludes the 2014/15 drilling campaign for Circle in Morocco. The successful campaign has seen ten wells drilled in total, seven wells in Sebou and three in Lalla Mimouna. In total the campaign recorded six new discoveries, five at the Sebou permit and one at the Lalla Mimouna permit. The campaign confirms our understanding of the Sebou permit and has proved the presence of gas at the Lalla Mimouna permit.

Improving operational efficiency has been a key goal for Circle over the last six months. Drilling costs have been reduced by 30% per well during the course of the campaign.

The Circle geological team will review and integrate the well data from this campaign when planning the next campaign in Morocco, initially scheduled for late 2016.

Circle continues to enjoy a strong position in Morocco and gas prices received are unaffected by the turmoil in global markets for oil and gas.

Circle Oil CEO, Mitch Flegg said:
"We are delighted with the result of CGD-13. This is the latest success in what has been an excellent campaign. In addition to drilling six successful wells and discovering additional reserves of gas, we have significantly deepened our understanding of both our Moroccan permits. This will provide a strong foundation for the future development of our Moroccan business."

"We would like to thank our partner, ONHYM, for their continued support in the development of our Moroccan permits. Morocco remains at the core of Circle's business and we are looking forward to developing our next drilling campaign."