Quarterly Report for Period Ending 31 December ...
29 January 2010
QUARTERLY REPORT FOR PERIOD ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2009
The Board is pleased to provide the following commentary to be read in
conjunction with the Appendix 5B, which is available on the website.
Puntland
Following the conclusion of negotiations between Range Resources Limited's ("
Range" or "the Company") Joint Venture Partner, Africa Oil Corp. ("Africa Oil")
and the Government of the Puntland State of Somalia, Range, Africa Oil and the
Puntland State of Somalia have entered into amending agreements modifying the
terms of the existing Production Sharing Agreements ("PSAs") made in respect
of the Dharoor and Nugaal Valley Exploration Areas. The revised agreements were
signed by the parties in Garowe, Puntland, subsequently approved by the Cabinet
of the Puntland Government and ratified by the Parliament of the Puntland State
of Somalia during December 2009.
With the conclusion of the negotiations and the execution of the amending
agreements, the PSAs, as amended, now provide for initial exploration periods
in respect of both blocks that have been extended from 36 months to 48 months
with a revised expiry of 17 January 2011. In addition, the terms of the
exploration programs have been amended so that Africa Oil can, at its option,
drill one exploratory well in each of the Nugaal and Dharoor Valley Exploration
Areas, or two exploratory wells in the Dharoor Valley, during the initial
exploration period. In consideration of the extension of the exploration
period, the parties agreed to voluntarily relinquish 25% of the original
agreement area on or before 17 January 2010.
Onshore Puntland Interest: Range - 20%
Africa Oil Corp - 65%
Lion Energy Inc - 15%
The successful conclusions of these negotiations now paves the way for Africa
Oil to commence operations and drilling of the first exploration well in
Puntland for over 16 years.
Following the successful completion of negotiations regarding the onshore
licences and previous technical presentations to the Government on the proposed
offshore areas of interest, Range will look to continue negotiations regarding
the formalisation of a new PSA with respect to the exploration and development
of off shore Puntland in early 2010.
Georgia
Subsequent to completion of the Heads of Agreement, between Range Resources and
Strait Oil & Gas (UK) Ltd to complete Phase II of the PSA, approval was
obtained from the Georgian Government for The Geophysical Institute of Israel
to commence the 2D seismic operation on both Block VIa and Block VIb.
Mobilisation of the vibrosis equipment was completed in October and after
independent testing and technical audit the seismic operation started in
November 2009. The operation has proceeded well and to date with over 150 kms
of seismic acquisition having been completed despite some recent severe weather
conditions. It is predicted that completion of this operation will occur
sometime in end of February / early March of 2010.
The crew has been extremely diligent and the equipment is being maintained to
manufacturer's specification and contract requirement. To date the seismic team
has not had any incident of damage to buildings or the environment during the
seismic acquisition and are continually monitoring for any environmental
damage.
Data quality has been consistently good to very good and the highly structured
overthrust features, that will require competent data processing, are expected
to provide many potentially viable structures as drilling targets.
An assessment of previously drilled gas wells is currently being completed and
will be followed by an independent review.
Figure 1 - Planned Seismic Program on Blocks VIa and VIb - please refer to the
website.
Figure 2 - Seismic Vehicle - please refer to the website.
Texas
During the quarter drilling was completed on the Smith #1 well and the Company
announced that testing confirmed a commercial discovery.
The Smith #1 was drilled and logged to a depth of 13,975' (4,260m). Based on
open-hole logs indicating approximately 120' (37m) of net pay thickness in
three zones with no water, 4 ½" production casing was run to TD and cemented in
place. After an interval of just 20' (6.2m) in one of the three zones was
perforated, bottom-hole pressure was estimated to be approximately 11,650 psi.
The well was unloaded on a 6/64" choke until gas reached the surface, and
subsequently opened to a 10/64" choke for 5 hours to clean the well up.
Despite the small choke size, the average rate during this period was 2.4
million cubic feet of gas and 191 barrels of oil per day with no water. Final
flowing casing pressure was 6,354 psi.
The well was shut in with a final measured casing pressure of over 9,000 psi.
The Smith well remains shut in awaiting production facilities and pipeline
connection. Current plans are to perform additional testing of the well into
the sales line and finish the completion at that time.
Also during the quarter, the well partners (Range - 25%) purchased an
additional 560 acres in the area bringing the total leased area in the prospect
to 1,680 acres.
Well Details
Name of well Smith #1
Spud date 4 September 2009
Total depth 13,975 ft (4,260m)
RRS working interest 25%
Figure 3: Unit Texas Rig #35 drilling ahead on Smith #1 well - please refer to the
website.
Corporate
The Company's Annual General Meeting was held on 20 November 2009 with all
resolutions being passed.
Subsequent to quarter end, the Company announced a A$3.5m placement to
sophisticated and institutional investors in both Australia and the United
Kingdom, in conjunction with a 1:4 rights issue to existing shareholders, both
at $0.05, raising approximately A$11m.
By order of the Board
Peter Landau
Executive Director
Contacts
Range Resources
Peter Landau
Tel: +61 8 9488 5220
Em: plandau@rangeresources.com.au
Australia London
PPR Conduit PR
David Tasker Jonathan Charles
Tel: +61 (8) 9388 0944 Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7429 6666
Em: david.tasker@ppr.com.au Em: jonathan@conduitpr.com
RFC Corporate Finance (Nominated Advisor) Old Park Lane Capital (Broker)
Stuart Laing Michael Parnes
Tel: +61 (8) 9480 2500 Tel: +44 (0) 207 493 8188
Range Background
Range Resources is a dual listed (ASX: RRS; AIM: RRL) oil & gas exploration
company with oil & gas interests in the frontier state of Puntland, Somalia,
the Republic of Georgia and Texas, USA.
* In Puntland, Range holds a 20% working interest in two licences
encompassing the highly prospective Dharoor and Nugaal valleys with plans
to drill two wells (TSXV:AOI) - 65% Operator, in 2010.
* In the Republic of Georgia, Range holds a 50% farm-in interest in onshore
blocks VIa and VIb, covering approx. 7,000sq.km. Currently, Range is
undertaking a 350km 2D seismic program.
* Range holds a 25% interest in the North Chapman Ranch project, Texas. The
project area encompasses approximately 1,680 acres in one of the most
prolific oil and gas producing trends in the State of Texas. Drilling of
the first well has resulted in a commercial discovery with production due
to commence Feb 2010.
The references to gas flow rates with regards to Texas have been provided by
the operator of the well, Crest Resources Inc., reviewed by Mark Patterson a
petroleum geologist director and partner of Texas Energy Advisers LLC (who act
as consultants to Range), who has over 25 years of relevant experience in the
oil & gas sector, and found to be consistent with the SPE Guidelines.