Italy Update

Ascent Resources PLC
06 August 2007


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

6th August 2007

                Ascent Resources plc ('Ascent' or 'the Company')
                 Commences drilling the Arrone-1 Well in Italy


Ascent Resources plc, the AIM-traded oil and gas exploration and production
company, has commenced the drilling of the Arrone-1 gas exploration well in the
358 sq km Fiume Arrone Exploration Permit in Central Italy.  The well, which is
targeting gas prospective basal Pliocene sands, is 25km west of Rome and 11km
north-north-west of Rome's Fiumincino International airport.  Arrone-1 is the
first well on the permit and the partners in the project are Oracle Energy of
Canada (20%), Italmin Exploration of Italy (14%) and JKX of the UK (10%). Ascent
Resources Italia is the operator with a 56% working interest.

The Arrone-1 well spudded on Saturday and the conductor casing is now set and
cemented at 55m.  It is planned to drill to a depth of 1,000m and is expected to
take approximately three weeks to complete.  Two wells have previously been
drilled in the area of the permit, one of which, the Roma-2 well drilled in
1955, reported gas shows.

Ascent Resources Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, 'As highlighted by our
recent three announcements including the spudding of the Arrone-1 well, the
farm-out in the Po Valley and the on-going test on the Anagni-1 well, Ascent has
a diverse spread of projects and a continued high level of exploration drilling
activity.'

Production testing of the Anagni-1 well continues and a further update will be
provided by the Company in due course.

This announcement is timed for simultaneous release of information in UK and
Canada.


                                  * * ENDS * *


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]


Notes

Ascent Resources has a portfolio of over 20 gas and oil projects across six
countries in Europe. The projects are onshore in Italy, Switzerland, Hungary,
Spain, Slovenia and offshore Netherlands.  The Company operates Spain's only
onshore oilfield where production currently averages over 110 barrels of oil per
day. With the stable European gas market, Ascent's portfolio favours gas over
oil. With the exception of the Netherlands, all of its projects are located
onshore where operating and development costs are substantially lower than they
are offshore.




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange