4th Oct 2007 07:01
Afren PLC04 October 2007 Afren plc (AIM: AFR) Completion of First Exploration Well on La Noumbi licence London, 4 October 2007 - Afren notes the announcement below from Maurel & Prom,operator of the La Noumbi licence in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville): Osman Shahenshah, Chief Executive of Afren, commented:"Whilst the poor reservoir permeability at the location of the Doungou well isdisappointing, it established a working hydrocarbon system which is encouragingfor future exploration activity on the La Noumbi acreage. The licence hasmultiple reservoir targets and covers a vast area of 2,830 square kilometres. Welook forward to an active drilling programme in 2008 after we have incorporatedthe well results and interpreted the new seismic data." Maurel & Prom announcement: "On the La Noumbi permit (Maurel & Prom, 49% operator), the exploration wellDoungou-1, whose main objective was the Vandji sandstone reservoir, was pluggedand abandoned. The well was the first to be drilled by the La Noumbi Joint Venture, comprisingMaurel & Prom (operator and 49% working interest), Burren (37% working interest)and Afren (14% working interest). The Doungou well was spudded on 13th August 2007 and reached a total Depth of2,602m (2,168 tvdss) on 26th September 2007. Oil and gas shows were observed in several intervals in pre-salt formations. Acomprehensive logging suite, including pressure tests and sampling data, wasacquired across the intervals of interest. Reservoir quality is poor, due to lowpermeability and the well was plugged and abandoned. The well proves the existence of a working hydrocarbon system at several levelsin an under explored part of Congo Brazzaville, which is encouraging for futureexploration activity. A new 2D seismic data set was recently acquired in the north of the La Noumbilicence covering 200 kilometres in the area adjacent to the Tie Tie oildiscovery. Together with the new data acquired in 2006 and the reprocessedexisting data, these will be interpreted with the benefit of the Doungou wellresults to determine new prospects to be drilled in 2008." 4 October 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 Tristone Capital Limited +44 20 7355 5800Simon Ashby-RuddMajid Shafiq Pelham Public Relations +44 20 7743 6673James HendersonAlisdair Haythornthwaite Background information Afren Plc 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. Afren's Chief OperatingOfficer is Evert Jan Mulder, who was most recently Chief Operating Officer ofAddax Petroleum, Nigeria's largest independent oil producer. Since its listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Afren hasrapidly expanded its portfolio and the management team has delivered 11 assetsin the Joint Development Zone of Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe, Nigeria, Gabon,Angola and Congo Brazzaville. In addition, Afren has built an executive andnon-executive management and advisory team with broad and extensive experiencein the industry, both in West Africa and internationally; in identifying andcompleting corporate expansion opportunities and in public company financing.Afren also looks to leverage key relationships across the region to gainpreferential access to opportunities. Afren will continue to add to its diversified portfolio of near term developmentand high impact exploration, with the overall objective of creating substantialshareholder value. Current portfolio Nigeria Afren is partnered with indigenous companies on all four assets in Nigeria. Thisis consistent with the strategy and commitment of partnering with indigenouscompanies to target low cost development options that yield near-termproduction. •Okoro Setu development - Two appraisal wells were successfully drilled in Q4 2006 by Afren, the Technical Service Provider. A nine-month rig contract is in place for the Adriatic VI, with development drilling due to commence in Q4 2007. An FPSO has been secured, reserves certified by Netherland, Sewell and Associates (2P of 32 mmbbl) and the Field Development Plan has been approved by the Department of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria. First oil is targeted in early 2008 and on track for 15 to 20,000 bopd of oil achieved by mid 2008. •Ofa development - Discovered by Shell in 1970. Afren and its partner Independent Energy Limited recently successfully completed testing operations on the original Ofa-1 discovery well and are currently analysing the results. •Ogedeh development - Existing discovery made by Chevron in 1993 in an area lying close to existing infrastructure. Various development options are currently under review. •Eremor development - Initially discovered by Shell in 1978. Phase I of the approved Field Development Plan is to re-enter and complete Eremor-1. Angola Cabinda Block B Heads of agreement have been signed for a 5 per cent. interest in Block B, ahigh quality exploration license containing existing discoveries (32 wellspreviously drilled without Seismic (4 wells testing light oil and 7 wells withoil shows). A 2D seismic programme is planned, followed by a 5-well explorationprogramme from 2008 onwards once Force Majeure is lifted. Congo The La Noumbi field (Afren: 14% interest) lies adjacent to the M'Boundi fieldand contains a number of high impact exploration opportunities. Gabon Afren has interests in Themis and Iris Marin (12.86%) and the Ibekelia StudyArea (20%), which offer low cost exploration upside. The Admiral prospect inThemis Marin is due to be drilled in H2 2007. Nigeria - Sao Tome Joint Development Zone Afren's 4.41% interest in Block 1 of the JDZ offers exposure to a world classexploration acreage and in March 2006 Chevron made the Obo-1 discovery whichcontained 150 feet of net pay and proved a working hydrocarbon system in theJDZ. Note In accordance with the AIM Rules, the drilling update information in this reporthas been reviewed and signed off by Dr Nick Johnson, who is Head of Explorationand New Ventures at Afren Plc and has over 25 years relevant experience withinthe sector. He consents to the information in the form and context in which itappears. The Company estimates its reserves in accordance with the guidelinesand definitions of the Society of Petroleum Engineers/World Petroleum Congress("SPE/WPC") reserves classification (March 1997) using accepted engineeringprinciples. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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