18th Apr 2006 07:02
Matra Petroleum PLC18 April 2006 PRESS RELEASE For immediate release: 18 April 2006 Matra Petroleum plc Matra Petroleum announces the spudding of Blue Topaz-9 well Matra Petroleum, formerly Ming Resources plc, is pleased to announce that itcommenced drilling its first exploration well, Blue Topaz-9 located in thenorthwest corner of the Inke Concession in the Western Pannonian Basin, Hungaryon 15 April. The well is the first stage of an exploration programme on the concession thatincludes reprocessing of existing 2D and 3D seismic, and the review of existingdiscoveries on the block. It is expected to take 30 days to reach total depth of2,200m, and will test two independent targets - gas in the Miocene below 1,500mand oil in the deeper Triassic. It is expected to cost €2.5 million (£1.72million). Commenting on the Blue Topaz well, Peter Hind, Matra's Managing Director said:"It is an exciting step for Matra to be drilling its first well and the InkeConcession represents an ongoing opportunity for Matra to build on. The resultsof this first stage will help define the ongoing strategy for the concession andranking of the current prospect inventory. The Hungarian authorities have beenextremely helpful in getting to this stage and are keen to see development oflocal resources." For the purposes of AIM Rule 11, this announcement has been reviewed by MatraPetroleum's Managing Director, Peter Hind, a Petroleum Engineer of more than 30years standing. . For further information, please contact: Matra Petroleum www.matrapetroleum.com Peter Hind, Managing Director +44 (0) 7790 807 855 Aquila Financial Limited www.aquila-financial.com Peter Reilly +44 (0) 20 7202 2601 Yvonne Fraser +44 (0) 20 7202 2609 Background to Matra Petroleum Matra Petroleum plc ("Matra" or the "Company"), formerly Ming Resources plc,announced the acquisition of Inke Petroleum on 13 March 2006. Followingreadmission and the change of the company name to Matra Petroleum plc on 11April 2006, the Company is now trading on AIM under the ticker 'MTA'. Further to a successful placing of 160,000,000 ordinary shares at 5p a share toraise £8 million (before expenses), the Company now has 262,000,000 ordinaryshares on issue and a market capitalisation of £16.7 million as at market closeon 13 April 2006. Matra is an oil and gas company with a focus on Central Europe. Through theacquisition of Inke Petroleum, Matra acquired 100% interest in the 2,297km2 Inkeoil and gas Concession in southwest Hungary as their foundation asset, on whichthe Blue Topaz prospect exists. The concession is approximately 120kms to the south-west of Budapest and closeto both oil and gas infrastructure. Hungary is actively promoting the development of its natural resources. It hasan attractive fiscal regime, with a corporate tax rate of 16% and provisionaltax rates of 2%. Within the Inke Concession, there is also a State royalty of12% and a privately held royalty of 6%. The Inke Concession: •covers a substantial area and is one of the largest individual oil and gasconcessions/permits in Hungary. The Concession is located within the WesternPannonian Basin. The basin contains a large number of known oil and gas fields.For historical reasons the Concession is under-explored given its location andprospectivity. •has several oil and gas fields immediately bordering the Concession. Mostnotable are the Inke gas field and the Savoly oil field on the western boundaryand the Mezocsokonya gas field that is surrounded by the Concession. Thesefields and the large number of fields in the region illustrate the potential ofthis part of the Western Pannonian Basin and its ability to generate and trapoil and gas. •contains a number of reported existing discoveries: Nagyatad oil field;Somogysamson-3 gas discovery; Pat and Vese gas discoveries; and theNagyszakacsi-3 oil occurrence. A review of these discoveries in the light ofcurrent oil and gas prices and advances in technology is underway. •has a large amount of data which has been collected over the Concessionresulting from magnetic surveys, an estimated 1,600kms of seismic and reportedly36 wells. A total of 17 prognosed structures have been drilled and, even withoutthe benefit of modern seismic, 7 oil or gas discoveries were made, with theremaining 10 wells reported to have encountered hydrocarbon shows. In recentyears a 110 sq km of 3D seismic was acquired, and this is currently beingreprocessed by Inke Petroleum. Reprocessing of the 2D data will commenceshortly. Directors Non Executive Chairman - Mr Craig Ian Burton (Aged 42) Bjuris, LLB, MAICD Mr Burton has extensive business experience in the natural resources sector andin managing publicly listed companies. He has a track record of providingcorporate and financial backing to resource projects and technical teams. Overthe past 12 years, he has co-founded and assisted the public listing of numerousresource companies, including several oil and gas companies, and he remains asubstantial and active investor in the resources sector. Mr Burton is currently a director of ASX listed companies Livingstone PetroleumLimited, Mirabela Nickel Limited, Exco Resources NL and Liberty Gold NL and AIMlisted Albidon Limited and Isis Resources plc. He has a Bachelor of Law degreefrom the University of Western Australia and prior to pursuing businessinterests practised as a corporate lawyer. He is a member of the AustralianInstitute of Company Directors. Managing Director - Mr Peter James Hind (Aged 54) BSc. Mr Hind is a qualified Petroleum Engineer who has held senior positions in theoil industry since 1972. After extensive technical and operational background,Mr Hind has specialised in business development in recent years, focussing onSouth East Asia, Australasia and the Middle East. Most recently he was GeneralManager of Business Development for Premier Oil plc. Mr Hind has been responsible for technical and project management, significantacquisitions and divestments, inter-company and inter-government commercialnegotiations, company strategy, finance and investor relations. Non-Executive Director - Mr Peter Lynton Gunzburg (Aged 53) B. Comm Mr Gunzburg has 20 years experience as a stockbroker. He has a Commerce Degreefrom the University of Western Australia and has previously been a director ofResolute Ltd, the Australian Stock Exchange (Perth) Limited, Eyres Reed Ltd andCIBC World Markets Australia Limited. He is the Chairman of Australian listed Fleetwood Corporation Limited andPieNetworks Limited, and is Executive Chairman of dual Australian Stock Exchangeand AIM listed Eurogold Limited. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
MTA.L