24th Feb 2016 10:03
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ascent Resources PLC Wednesday said it is continuing to pursue all three routes its has identified in its goal of producing gas from the Peti?ovci field in Slovenia in 2016.
Ascent has been working towards its goal of constructing a new processing facility to clean gas from the field in order to supply it into Slovenia's national grid. It has filed an IPPC permit for the construction of this facility, and was recently informed by the Slovenian court that its case is expected to be reviewed ahead of schedule in March.
The permit has been provisionally awarded, but must go through a final appeal stage. Whilst there is no guarantee a final decision will be taken in March, or that there will be a favourable decision for Ascent, the company said there are reasonable ground to expect a permit to be awarded before the end of the second quarter of 2016.
However, the company has other alternative routes to gas. A second potential route would be outsourcing gas processing to a third party. It expects to provide a full update on this route by the end of the first quarter of 2016.
Additionally, the asset is adjacent to a disused methanol plant, the owner of which has been seeking a buyer to recondition and reopen the facility for "some time." Ascent said that this plant was sold to US Methanol Inc for EUR5.6 million earlier this month, and that it had held talks with the management of US Methanol during December 2015 with the aim of supplying gas to the re-commissioned plant.
Whilst obtaining the IPPC permit is essential for the production of higher volumes of gas, Ascent is considering these other routes for their potential to bring revenue and data in the short term at a relatively low cost.
"We are pleased to be making substantial progress with all three potential routes to market, which gives us good reason to be optimistic that the company can achieve its prime goal of first gas during this calendar year," said Interim Chief Executive Officer Colin Hutchinson in a statement.
Shares in Ascent were up 8.2% at 0.892 pence Wednesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Ascent Resources