14th Jun 2007 11:57
Afren PLC14 June 2007 Afren plc (AIM: AFR) ("Afren" or the "Company") AGM Statement The following statement was made by Dr Rilwanu Lukman, KBE, Legion d'Honneur,Chairman of Afren, at today's Annual General Meeting of the Company: "Afren's second year as a listed company has been a period of tremendousprogress, in terms of corporate, operational and financial achievements. Afren continued the rapid expansion of its portfolio in 2006 with furtherpenetration in Nigeria and strategic entries into Congo Brazzaville and Angola.We also recently announced our third partnership in Nigeria, entering into anagreement with a well established indigenous company, Independent EnergyLimited, to jointly develop the Ofa Field. Today, the Company has a 10 assetdiversified portfolio in 5 West African countries and is on track to achievingits near term production target of 15,000 to 20,000 barrels of oil per day fromthe existing portfolio. Afren has demonstrated its ability to fast track the development of provenundeveloped fields in Nigeria. Having announced an agreement with AMNI for thedevelopment of the Okoro Setu fields in June 2006, we successfully drilled twoappraisal wells in late 2006. The Government has approved the Field DevelopmentPlan, an FPSO has been secured and development drilling is due to start in thesecond half of 2007, with first oil expected in early 2008. We continue to complement our near term development assets with qualityexploration acreage. The acquisition of a 14 per cent stake in the La Noumbipermit in Congo Brazzaville provides entry into a growing Gulf of Guinea oilprovince and exposure to an exciting high impact exploration play. We have alsoestablished a strategic foothold in Angola through an option over a 5 per centstake in the exciting onshore Cabinda Block B license. We continue to successfully finance the development of our portfolio, havingclosed a US$75 million convertible bond issue in July 2006 and recently secureda fully underwritten $200 million non-recourse debt facility, to fund thedevelopment of the Okoro Setu project. In summary, Afren aims to continue its development into the premier pan-Africanexploration and production company by partnering with indigenous companies,African National Oil Companies and Governments. The Company intends to furtherexploit the development of proven undeveloped fields in Nigeria and build on thestrategic entries into Congo Brazzaville, Angola and Gabon. Most importantly, the Company is now entering the second phaseof its growth strategy, the actual development and production of proven oil andgas fields. The management team - with a strengthened development and productionfocus - is well placed for this next phase and to realise Afren's near termtarget of 15,000 - 20,000 barrels of oil per day of production." All the resolutions proposed at the Annual General Meeting were duly passed. 14 June 2007 Enquiries: Afren plc +44 20 7182 1800Osman Shahenshah Chief ExecutiveEvert Jan Mulder Chief Operating OfficerGalib Virani Investor Relations Jefferies International Limited +44 20 7618 3500Toby HaywardOliver Griffiths Pelham Public Relations +44 20 7743 6673James HendersonAlisdair Haythornthwaite Background information Afren (www.afren.com) was founded in December 2004 by a management teamincluding Dr Rilwanu Lukman, (Chairman), Osman Shahenshah, (Chief Executive) andBert Cooper (Advisor to the Board), with the vision to become the premier panAfrican independent Exploration and Production company. Since its listing onthe AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Afren has rapidly expanded itsportfolio and the management team has delivered ten assets in the JointDevelopment Zone of Nigeria Sao Tome and Principe, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola andCongo Brazzaville. Afren will continue to add to its diversified portfolio of near term developmentand high impact exploration, with the overall objective of creating substantialshareholder value. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
AFR.L