Farms out for 3D Seismic in H

RNS Number : 8614I

Ascent Resources PLC

25 November 2008

 



Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas

25th November 2008

Ascent Resources plc ('Ascent' or 'the Company')

Farms out for 3D Seismic in Hungary

Ascent Resources plc, the AIM-traded oil and gas exploration and production company, has entered into an agreement whereby Hungarian Horizon Energy ('HHE') and JKX Oil & Gas plc ('JKX'), will farm-in for a 66.67% interest in a 120 sq. km area of the western part of the Nyírség Szatmár permits in the Penészlek Exploration Project in Hungary.  Under the terms of the agreement signed with Ascent's partners in the project, HHE and JKX will pay for the acquisition and processing of a 3-D seismic survey over the farm-out area.  The acquisition of this seismic commenced on Thursday 20th November 2008.

The farm-out area, known as the Pan-handle, is to the south of HHE and JKX's Hajdúnánás-1 gas discovery (reported by JKX on 11th August 2008) and some 70 km north-west of PetroHungaria's (Ascent 45.23%) PEN-104 well, which commenced gas production in August 2008.  The new 3-D seismic survey, which will cover the whole farm-out area, is designed to delineate additional gas prospects and to identify suitable targets for drilling.  

Ascent retains a 17.50% interest in the project and the other partners are HHE (33.33% and operator), JKX (33.33%), DualEx (12.50%), Geomega (2.67%) and Swede Resources (0.67%).

Ascent Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, 'This is a positive step forward in the continued development of our Hungarian assets.  The Nyírség Szatmár project area is very similar in characteristics to our successful PEN-104 well development, currently producing 117,000 cu. m per day (4.1 MMscfd; 689 boepd), and where we have already shot some 90 sq. km. of 3-D seismic.  In both areas we expect that the seismic will point us towards new drilling opportunities and allow us to bring into production further profitable gas wells.'

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For further information visit www.ascentresources.co.uk or contact:

Jeremy Eng	Ascent Resources plc	Tel: [phone]
Hugo de Salis	St Brides Media & Finance Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Victoria Thomas	St Brides Media & Finance Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Max Hartley	Cenkos Securities plc	Tel: [phone]
Daniel Fox-Davies	Fox-Davies Capital Limited	Tel: [phone]

Glossary:

sq. km                         Square kilometres

3-D seismic                 Three dimensional seismic acquisition

cu. m                           Cubic metres

MMscfd                      Millions of standard cubic feet (of gas) per day

boepd                          Barrels of oil equivalent (6,000 cubic feet of gas is equivalent to one

                        barrel of oil) per day

Notes:

Ascent Resources plc has a diversified portfolio of some 20 hydrocarbon exploration and development projects across five countries in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia and Netherlands. Ascent's portfolio contains a solid base of field redevelopment projects with selected exposure to exploration upside. The portfolio is focussed on gas and with the exception of the shallow water Netherlands project, all of its projects are located onshore where operating and development costs are substantially lower than they are offshore. In October 2008, Ascent agreed with San Severina Holdings SA, a Swiss based investment company, to establish an oil and gas asset management joint venture.  The joint venture will acquire minority interests and provid investment funding for producing and development or appraisal stage oil and gas projects.

 

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