Business
First Oil Announcement
First Oil Announcement.
About this update from Afentra Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Sterling Energy PLC\n27 February 2006\n\n\n\n 27 February 2006\n\n STERLING ENERGY PLC\n ('Sterling' or 'the Company')\n\n\n FIRST OIL FROM CHINGUETTI FIELD\n OFFSHORE MAURITANIA\n\n\n\nSterling Energy, the AIM listed (symbol: SEY) independent oil & gas exploration\nand production company, today announces that crude oil production has begun from\nthe Chinguetti oilfield, in PSC B offshore Mauritania. This has been achieved in\nline with the production schedule issued by Sterling and its partners.\n\n\nThe Chinguetti development consists of 6 production wells tied in to the Berge\nHelene Floating Production Storage and Offtake (FPSO) vessel. Production is\nexpected to rise to a plateau of 75,000 bopd in 2Q 2006. The field has\nestimated proven and probable reserve of 140mmbo. The original discovery was\nmade in 2001; since then, the partners have invested in the region of £400\nmillion in the successful development of the field.\n\n\nSterling has two economic interests in the Chinguetti development. The first is\nthrough the Funding Agreement with the Mauritanian Government, signed in\nNovember 2004, which enabled the Government to directly participate in the\nChinguetti development through the recently renamed Societe Mauritanienne des\nHydrocarbures (SMH). In return for funding the 12% SMH share, Sterling will\ngain an approximate 8% economic interest in the field's gross production.\nSterling is proud to have worked closely with SMH to develop Mauritania's first\noil field.\n\n\nThe second interest is through a farm-in agreement signed with Premier Oil PLC\nin 2003 covering PSC A and PSC B, under which each net attributable barrel of\nChinguetti produced, equivalent to 5.28% of the field's production, is subject\nto a sliding scale royalty at a rate linked to the realised oil price. At an\noil price in the band $58 - $61, the royalty payment would currently be around\n$7.25 per barrel.\n\n\nSterling anticipates development announcements to be made in the next 6 months\non the Tevet and Oualata (Tiof) discoveries in PSC B, and exploration drilling\ncontinues in both PSC B and PSC A, in which Sterling has royalty rights and\ndiscovery bonus entitlements.\n\n\nSterling expects to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 31\nDecember 2005 in late April, 2006.\n\n\nHarry Wilson, Chief Executive of Sterling Energy...