29th Jun 2011 07:00
Sefton Resources, Inc.
("Sefton" or the "Company")
Annual General Meeting Statement
A year of solid progress
At today's Annual General Meeting of Sefton Resources (AIM: SER), the independent oil and gas exploitation and production company with interests in California and Kansas, the acting Chairman and CEO Jim Ellerton will make the following statement:
"There is little doubt that 2010 was a year of solid progress. We not only executed our strategy to maximise revenues from our existing oil producing assets in California but also made strategic investments in gas acreage and pipeline infrastructure in Kansas which we anticipate will deliver significant returns over the longer term.
News from Tapia is that our engineers are seeing the benefit of the continuous steam injection that began during the month of March. Here a central well is being steamed continuously and reservoir pressures have begun to increase, which in turn has increased the production; for example daily output from Hartje #18 has increased from 16 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") earlier on this year to more than 27bopd.
In the coming months the Company is expected to be able to make two important announcements which concern the half year engineering study and the steam flood study report from Dr Farouq Ali.
The half year engineering study will include an updated valuation on the proven, probable and possible reserves ("3P") as at 30 June 2011, independently estimated by Reed W. Ferrill & Associates. Dr Ali has taken the data of the steaming pilot study at the Tapia Field and incorporated it with a model of the field in order to make recommendations.
The Directors are confident that Dr Ali's report will outline a clear programme for the development of Tapia and the maximising of revenues from its resources. The results of his preliminary work did identify total recoveries for the field in the range of up to 78% of the original oil in place (as announced in 11 January 2011), compared to the historical recovery rate of 50%. Clearly demonstrating that the recovery rate can be improved will result in proven reserves increasing.
I would like to express my thanks to the management and staff in the US and also the new team of advisers that has been assembled in the UK. Despite the improvement in the share price, the board believes the Company remains undervalued and will be busy working on our Investor Relations programme to get this message out."
For further information please visit www.seftonresources.com or contact:
John James Ellerton, Acting Chairman and CEO | Tel: 001 (303) 759 2700 |
Dr Michael Green, Investor Relations | Tel: 07855 734970 |
Nick Harriss, Religare Capital Markets (Nomad) | Tel: 0207 444 0800 |
Jon Levinson, Rivington Street Corporate Finance (Broker) | Tel: 0207 562 3357 |
Neil Badger, Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers (Broker) | Tel: 01293 517744 |
Alex Walters, Cadogan PR | Tel: 07771 713608 |
Sefton Resources is an AIM-listed oil and gas exploration and production company. Its main area of activities are the East Ventura Basin of California, where it owns 100% of two oil fields, Tapia Canyon (heavy gravity oil) and Eureka Canyon (medium gravity oil), and East Kansas with over 45,000 acres in the Forest City Basin, where coal bed methane, as well as conventional oil and gas deposits are targets.
Currently Sefton Resources has a market capitalisation of £8.96 million. At year-end, the company had a Present Value of its proved reserves (PV10) of US$80.6 million (approximately £50 million). The estimated 2010 year-end proved reserves of 3.8 million barrels includes proved developed (PD) reserves of 1.6 million barrels and proved undeveloped (PUD) reserves of 2.2 million barrels. In addition, there are 2.3 billion cubic feet (BCF) of estimated possible gas reserves at year-end 2010 associated with the Company's eastern Kansas assets. All of Sefton's 2010 year-end estimated proved and possible reserves were independently estimated by Reed W. Ferrill& Associates.
In addition, a Competent Persons Report by Dr NafiOnat, of Sure Engineering, LLC placed a maiden Net Present Value of $100.1 million (approximately £62 million) on Sefton's Kansas prospects which were announced in May 2011. This report provided an independent geo-technical review and economic evaluation of the conventional (sandstone, limestone and dolomite) and unconventional (coal bed methane gas) prospects in Sefton's Kansas exploration prospects which covers the Anderson, Franklin and Leavenworth Counties. Dr Onat's report did not include any revenue from the pipeline revenue nor was any valuation placed on the McLouth development in Leavenworth County.
Related Shares:
SER.L