11th May 2005 07:00
Petroceltic International PLC11 May 2005 Petroceltic International plc Petroceltic Moves On Italian Licence Petroceltic International plc ("Petroceltic"), an AIM quoted upstream oil andgas company, is pleased to announce the official award of Italian licence B.R.268 VG (formerly named BR.G.490) in the Adriatic Sea. The Licence covers 127square kilometres in shallow water immediately adjacent to two onshore oildiscoveries named Miglianico 1 and 2. The application for B.R. 268 VG was filedbefore the Miglianico discoveries were made. The licence area contains an existing oil discovery named ELSA 1, which wasdrilled in the early 1990s. A previous licence holder (Enterprise Oil plc)estimated that this discovery could yield probable (P50) oil reserves in excessof 108 million barrels (mmbbls). Consequent to this discovery, Agip, the Italianoil major, drilled the nearby successful onshore Miglianico 1 and 2 wells whichare now producing oil from the same oil reservoir that was encountered in ELSA1. Miglianico 1 is only 800 metres to the South West of the B.R. 268 VG Licenceboundary. An independent report commissioned by Petroceltic's partner Rigo Oil CompanyLimited (Rigo), undertaken by Petrel Roberston Consulting Ltd of Calgaryconcluded that there could be probable (P50) reserves of 182 mmbbls in thelicence area with possible reserves (P10) of some 567mmbbls. Under an agreement with Rigo dated June 29th, 2004, Petroceltic has an initial15% interest in the licence with an option to increase to 40%. In additionPetroceltic holds pre-emption rights over further interests. Rigo Oil CompanyLimited is an independent oil and gas company with interests in Italy andTunisia. Now that the licence has been awarded, Petroceltic and Rigo will purchase andinterpret more existing seismic data including that already acquired by AGIP,and accelerate drilling plans. John Craven, Managing Director of Petroceltic, commented: "B.R. 268 VG contains an existing oil discovery which has been successfullyextended to the onshore area as confirmed by the Miglianico 1 and 2 wells whichare now on production. We have already identified a significant structure aroundthe ELSA 1 discovery in our licence area and we are looking forward to workingwith our partners to arrange future drilling plans." Contacts: Petroceltic International plc Tel: +353 1 495 9285 John Craven, Managing Director Tel: +353 86 386 2076 [email protected] www.petroceltic.com Simpson PR Ronnie Simpson Tel: +353 1 260 5300 Davy John Frain Tel: +353 1 679 6363 11 May, 2005 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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