Tunisia - CCH Approval re Ksar Hadada licence

RNS Number : 3336P

Independent Resources PLC

18 August 2014

 

18 August 2014

Independent Resources plc

("Independent Resources", "IRG" or the "Company")

Tunisia - CCH Approval re Ksar Hadada licence

Independent Resources is pleased to announce that it has now received formal confirmation that the meeting of the Consultative Commission on Hydrocarbons of Tunisia ("CCH"), held on 7 August 2014, approved the extension of the Ksar Hadada licence to April 2016.

Independent Resources Ksar Hadada Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, has been appointed as the Operator of the Ksar Hadada licence with a revised working interest in the Production Sharing Contract of 86.345%.

Information on Ksar Hadada

The Ksar Hadada exploration permit (the "Ksar Hadada Permit") covers an onshore area of 2,252 square kilometres in south-east Tunisia. The primary targets on the Ksar Hadada block are the Ordovician Bir Ben Tartar quartzite and the Silurian Acacus sandstone, sourced by the basal member of the Silurian Tanezzuft shale, which is the main source rock for North Africa.

An independent third-party evaluation ("Competent Persons Report" or "CPR") of the Ksar Hadada permit completed by Blackwatch Petroleum Services ("Blackwatch") in April 2014 estimated gross recoverable resources of 108 million barrels of oil equivalent*.

The CPR attributed the following economic valuations to the Ksar Hadada Permit as a whole and to Independent Resources' net working interest of 86.345% in the Ksar Hadada Permit:

Gross unrisked value of the Ksar Hadada Permit	US$837 million
Net unrisked value of IRG's working interest	US$723 million
Gross risked value of the Ksar Hadada Permit	US$263 million
Net risked value of IRG's working interest	US$227 million

In compiling its report, Blackwatch assumed an oil price of US$95 per barrel and applied a 10 per cent. discount rate to all future cashflows.  Their report attributed a 38% chance of success to the Sidi Toui Ordovician prospect in Ksar Hadada and a 19% chance of success to the Gazelle Acacus sandstone prospect. 

Future Work Programme

The immediate priorities for IRG and its partners are engaging in shooting 3D seismic and then preparing for re-entry of one of the existing wells in the Ksar Hadada licence area.

A formation micro-imaging study of ST-4 well logging data from 2010 and core data from nearby wells has been commissioned and will provide new data on fracture characteristics including length, density, and porosity, which is important as much of the prospective oil in Ksar Hadada is expected to be recovered from the fracture swarms present.

IRG is in discussions with service providers to finalise tenders for a 3D seismic programme over the key areas of the Ksar Hadada licence identified as most prospective. It is anticipated that the tender process could be completed in the early Autumn of 2014 with seismic acquisition to follow.  Well re-entry could begin in the second quarter of 2015.

The results will assist in choosing the location of the next exploration well on the Ksar Hadada licence.  IRG believes that the availability of seismic data will also be beneficial in increasing the attractiveness of Ksar Hadada as an investment opportunity.

In due course, IRG expects to bring in partners to fund a significant portion of the work programme and is now actively engaging in the necessary process to achieve this.

Greg Coleman, CEO, stated:

"While the award of operatorship and our revised working interest in the Ksar Hadada licence has taken somewhat longer than originally envisaged, we are delighted to have received CCH approval. 

We will continue to prepare for shooting seismic and well re-entry and progress discussions with potential farm-in partners."

For further information, please visit www.ir-plc.com or contact:
Greg Coleman	Independent Resources plc	020 3367 1134
Phil Davies	Charles Stanley Securities (Nominated Adviser)	020 7149 6942
Simon Hudson	Tavistock Communications	020 7920 3150

Blackwatch is an independent provider of geological, petroleum engineering, well testing and drilling engineering services to the international petroleum industry. The company specialises in the modelling, estimation, assessment and evaluation of oil and gas assets. Except for the provision of professional services on a fee basis, Blackwatch does not have any interest in or commercial arrangement with any persons employed by or acting for Independent.

The CPR was prepared under the supervision of Samuel L Metcalfe, BA Geology, BSc Civil Engineering, and MSc Petroleum Engineering, and Terry Pimble BSc Geology, MSc Geophysics. Mr Metcalfe is Managing Director of Blackwatch and has over thirty years of experience in the international oil industry in the estimation, assessment, evaluation, exploration, development and management of hydrocarbon reserves and resources. Mr Pimble is a Geoscience Director and Chief Geophysicist with over thirty years of experience in the international oil industry in the estimation, assessment and evaluation of hydrocarbon reserves.

Blackwatch classified the prospective resources according to the SPE/WPC/AAPG/SPEE Petroleum Resources Management System ("PRMS").

Roberto Bencini, Technical Director of Independent Resources, has reviewed this announcement for the purposes of the current Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in June 2009.  Mr. Bencini is a Chartered Petroleum Geologist. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Geological Society of London and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

* The evaluation of the potential recoverable hydrocarbons mentioned in this announcement has been assessed in accordance with Petroleum Resources Management System prepared by the Oil and Gas Reserves Committee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2007, and the Guidelines for Application of the Petroleum Resources Management System, November 2011.  Both documents were reviewed and jointly sponsored by the World Petroleum Council (WPC), the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE).

 

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