15th Apr 2009 07:00
15 April 2009
CIRCLE OIL PLC
("Circle" or the "Company")
MOROCCO UPDATE
Circle Oil plc (AIM:COP), the international oil and gas exploration and production company, is pleased to announce that drilling and tie in operations in its Sebou and Oulad N'Zala licences in the Rharb Basin, Morocco are now back on track with the spudding of the DRJ-6 well in the Sebou permit in the past few days. As previously announced, these operations were delayed due to very severe flooding in the area over the past months.
Circle is also pleased to announce that its gas discovery ONZ-6 in the Oulad N'Zala permit has been tied in to the local pipeline infrastructure and is producing gas by way of a revenue earning extended well test. This should lead into continuous production and allow a fuller assessment of reserves.
Road access and platform construction are underway on the final two locations of the Company's six well programme and work on the tie in for the CGD-9 and KSR-8 wells is progressing.
Commenting on this news, David Hough, CEO of Circle said:
"Following the abnormally high rainfall of the past winter there was serious flooding over the whole of the Rharb Basin and we had no alternative but to delay some of these operations. However the flood waters have now subsided and operations have recommenced with the spudding of the DRJ-6 well and the tie in of the ONZ-6 discovery. The tie in of ONZ-6 enables Circle to increase its gas output from the licence thereby immediately increasing our revenues from the area."
For further information contact:
Circle Oil plc (+44 20 7638 9571)
David Hough, CEO
Collins Stewart Europe Limited (+44 20 7523 8350)
Adrian Hadden
Fox-Davies Capital (+44 20 7936 5230)
Daniel Fox-Davies
Citigate Dewe Rogerson (+44 20 7638 9571)
George Cazenove
Notes to Editors
Circle Oil Plc
Circle Oil Plc (AIM: COP) is an international oil & gas exploration and production Company with an expanding portfolio of assets in Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, Egypt and Namibia with a combination of low-risk near-term production and significant exploration upside potential. The Company listed on AIM in October 2004.
Internationally, the Company has continued to expand its portfolio over the past 2 years and now has assets in the Rharb Basin, Morocco; the Ras Mamour Permit in southern Tunisia; the Mahdia Permit offshore Tunisia; the Grombalia Permit in northern Tunisia; the Zeit Bay area of Egypt and the Owambo Basin, Namibia. Circle also has the largest licence holding of any Company in Oman. In addition to its highly prospective Block 52 offshore, the Company also has an ongoing exploration program in Block 49 onshore.
The Company's strategy is to locate and secure additional licenses in prospective hydrocarbon provinces and through targeted investment programmes, monetise the value in those assets for the benefit of shareholders. This could be achieved through farm-outs to selected partners who would then invest in and continue the development of the asset into production, or Circle may itself opt to use its own expertise to appraise reserves and bring assets into production, generating sustained cash flow for further investment.
Further information on Circle Oil is available on its website at www.circleoil.net
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Circle Oil Plc