Ascent Resources PLC
06 April 2005
Ascent Resources plc
Two Further European Exploration Joint Ventures
Ascent Resources plc (Ascent) has entered into agreements for the acquisition of
90% interests in two exploration joint ventures. The activities of the joint
ventures are in the Netherlands and the in the Molasse Basin of western
Switzerland.
The Dutch Joint Venture is with GTO and targets unappraised gas discoveries and
exploration both onshore and offshore. GTO is an exploration company that has
successfully farmed out the four blocks it was awarded in the UKCS 21st
Licensing Round to a consortium of three major UK independent oil companies.
GTO and Ascent are to agree work programmes and budgets which for the first year
are estimated to be £50,000. Ascent will fund 100% of the costs for its 90%
interest. Additionally bonuses to GTO payable in new Ascent Ordinary Shares
will be made according to the following milestones:
Issue of exploration license £50,000
Issue of production licenses £100,000
Commencement of production £300,000
The shares will be issued at a price equal to the average of the closing share
price for the six months prior to achievement of the relevant milestone.
The Swiss Joint Venture with SEAG (Swiss Petroleum) targets three areas in the
western part of the Molasse Basin. The first contains an unappraised oil
discovery made by BEB (ExxonMobil & Shell) in 1962 and the second and third each
contains an unappraised gas discovery made by Elf Acquitane in 1972 and 1982.
The first year's work programme includes seismic reprocessing and associated
geological studies. Ascent will fund 100% of the costs through the drilling of
the first exploration well for its 90% interest.
Along with its Hungarian project, Ascent now has three European joint ventures
in which it has 90% participation in each. Ascent also has its Gabon interests
where the first well is now scheduled to be drilled in July of this year.
The acquisition of the Swiss Joint Venture was made through the purchase of
Borona Holdings Limited, a company owned by Jeremy Eng. The company's sole
asset is its interest in the Swiss Joint Venture and the consideration is 2
million ordinary Ascent shares. On the basis of the mid-market price at the
close of business on 4 April 2005 of 5.25p, Borona Holdings Limited is valued at
£105,000. As a consequence of this acquisition, Jeremy Eng is interested in
2,000,000 Ordinary Shares of the Company, representing 1.3 per cent. of the
issued share capital of the Company.
The acquisition is a further step in Ascent's building of a portfolio of
majority owned European oil and gas projects.
Contact:
Jeremy Eng
Managing Director
Telephone: +44 20 7251 4905
Facsimile: +44 20 8681 2680
E-mail: jeng@ascentresources.co.uk
David Steinepreis
Chairman
Telephone: +44 7913 402 727
E-mail: dcs@ascentcapital.com.au
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.