27th Sep 2010 07:00
Embargoed for release: 07.00 on 27th September 2010
Northern Petroleum Plc ("the Group" or "the Company") Third New Netherlands Gas Field Put on Production by Northern Northern Petroleum Nederland B.V. ("Northern"), a wholly owned subsidiary ofNorthern Petroleum Plc, (AIM:NOP), announces that commercial gas productionfrom the Brakel field commenced on 23rd September 2010. This is the third ofsix onshore oil and gas fields that Northern and its partners are bringing intoproduction. The forecasted contracted gross sales volume is 200,000 normalcubic meters per day (7.4 mmscfd or 1,280 boepd).Based upon the August 2010 Gasunie price and the calorific value of the Brakelgas measured during testing, a price slightly in excess of €0.21 per normalcubic meter would currently be achieved. Some condensates will also be producedfor sale. Northern, the operator has a 45% licence interest. Our Partners,Energie Beheer Nederlandse B.V. ("EBN"), the Netherlands' state oil company andDyas B.V. ("Dyas"), hold 40% and 15% interests respectively.This brings into production the third gas field and pipeline development undera 2005 agreement between Northern and Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM),the joint Shell/Exxon company in The Netherlands (announced 14th June 2005).The next task is to complete the work started in August 2010 on productionfacilities for the nearby Wijk en Aalburg discovery on the same licence. It isa similar facility to that at Brakel and is now scheduled for start-up in early2011. That will conclude Northern's first multi-field gas development programme(Grolloo, Geesbrug, Wijk en Aalburg and Brakel). Northern will then focus onbringing the Papekop and Ottoland oil fields into production.Production from the four gas fields is scheduled at a gross daily productioncapability of 720,000 m³ per day (approx. 26.8 mmscfd), about 2,075 barrels perday of oil equivalence net to Northern, and is in addition to a forecast net190 boepd from the Group's four other production sites in the UK and TheNetherlands.
Northern Petroleum Plc has 91,887,701 million ordinary shares in issue and a share price of 94p at close of trading on 24th September 2010.
Derek Musgrove, Managing Director, Northern commented:
"We are pleased that we have found solutions to the local environmentalconcerns for three new field developments in The Netherlands. We have Wijk enAalburg, Ottoland and Papekop in progress, and based on our experience moveforward with confidence. The next phase of developments under consideration forappraisal and development includes Ottoland North, Kerkwijk, Willeskop,Oppenhuizen and Woudsend, with further production wells in the Geesbrug fieldand, if tests are successful, Tiendeveen.Progress has at times suffered from frustrating delays. It might feel as if weare approaching the end of a project. It is however just the end of the firstphase of developing the 42.5 million boe of net proven plus probable currentlyattributable reserves and beyond that starting to move forward on thediscoveries acquired since 2005. Nevertheless, when the forecasted netproduction of over 2250 boepd once Wijk en Aalburg is on-stream is achieved, wewill have reached a good base for advancing overall growth of the Group.We have had tremendous support from NAM and our partners EBN, and Dyas duringthis process and would like to thank all those who have worked closely with usto reach this milestone.
We now have gas production from five fields in the Netherlands, Geesbrug, Grolloo, P12, Waalwijk and Brakel. The increasing revenues from production will be re-invested in working towards realising the potential value of the considerable inventory of assets in our possession, continuing our growth."
Chairman of the Executive Board of EBN, Jan Dirk Bokhoven said: `I congratulateNorthern Petroleum with this achievement. Bringing this gas field on stream wasa challenge and I am happy to say "a job well done". Getting more fields likethis on production aids EBN in achieving its' objective to produce 30 bcm by2030 from small fields'.Peter Veenhof, Managing Director of Dyas also commented: `We are pleased thatNorthern Petroleum has now progressed its third development of a small onshoregas field that was previously classified as a stranded asset.'In accordance with the AIM Rules - Guidance for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies,the information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and signed offby the Exploration and Technical Director of Northern, Mr. Graham Heard CGeol.FGS, who has over 35 years experience as a petroleum geologist. - Ends -
For further information please contact:
Northern Petroleum Plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7469 2900 Derek Musgrove, Managing Director Chris Foss, Director of Finance, Legal & Corporate Affairs Graham Heard, Exploration & Technical Director
Sophie Hull, Head of Corporate Communications
Cenkos Securities (NOMAD and Joint Broker)
Jon Fitzpatrick Tel: +44 (0) 20 7397 8900 Ken Fleming Tel: +44 (0) 131 220 6939
Jefferies International (Joint Broker) Tel: +44(0) 20 7029 8000
Chris Snoxall Financial Dynamics Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 3113
Billy Clegg / Edward Westropp
Bishopsgate Communications Tel: +44 (0) 20 7562 3350
Nick Rome / Michael Kinirons
Notes to Editors:
Gas from Brakel is being delivered via a Northern constructed dedicated pipeline to the gas export line from Northern's Waalwijk field, which connects into the Gasunie gas grid. The production facilities treat the gas to meet Gasunie's specifications and all produced liquids are stored on-site before transportation by road tanker to a local refinery.
Northern formed a joint Dutch-Canadian team for design, manufacture and installation. Gemini Engineering (Canada), KCI (Netherlands) and Tebodin (Netherlands) were the main engineering contractors on this project. The gas processing plant was supplied by Toromont/Enerflex from Canada.
About Northern
Northern Petroleum Plc is independent oil and gas Exploration Company quoted onthe AIM market in London focused on the European Union and nearby areas.Comprehensive information on Northern and its oil and gas operations, includingall press releases, annual reports and interim reports are available fromNorthern's website at www.northpet.com.
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