Business
Bankers Petroleum Provides Operational Update
Higher Oil Prices and Initial Steam Results in Albania CALGARY, Feb. 13 /CNW/ - Bankers Petroleum...
About this update from Big Banc Split Corp. Class A
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nHigher Oil Prices and Initial Steam Results in Albania\n\n\nCALGARY, Feb. 13 /CNW/ - Bankers Petroleum Ltd. (TSX: BNK, AIM: BNK) is\npleased to provide an operational update for its Albanian heavy oil operations\nand its United States exploration program.\n\n\nAlbania\n\n\nBankers' Patos Marinza operations increased its 2007 exit production by\n12% to 5,337 bopd from 4,406 bopd at the end of 2006. During the fourth\nquarter, average daily production was 5,169 bopd, which represents a 24%\nincrease compared to the same period in 2006.\n\n\nEffective January 1, 2008, the Company renegotiated its domestic crude\noil sales agreement with ARMO Sh.A, the state-owned Albanian refining and\nmarketing organization, and completed an export agreement with a second\nrefinery in Italy. The higher domestic sales price compares favourably to the\nprevious contract, becoming competitive with export pricing. The domestic\nsales contract with ARMO Sh.A. includes volume commitments of between 50% to\n55% of Bankers production in Albania.\n\n\nBankers expects that its overall average sales price will approximate 56%\nof the Brent oil price for 2008, dependant upon total domestic versus export\nvolumes. Based on a current Brent price of US$93.00 per barrel, this\ntranslates into an average sales price of US$52.00 per barrel as compared to\nUS$35.54 per barrel in 2007. For January 2008, average blended sales price was\nUS$49.51 as compared to US$39.56 for December 2007, a 25% improvement.\n\n\nSteam injection operations commenced on an existing well into the Driza\nformation sands during the fourth quarter of 2007. In early December,\napproximately 17,000 barrels of cold water equivalent steam was successfully\ninjected into the well. Initial flowback and production of condensed water and\noil was encouraging with estimated oil production reaching over 150 bopd\nduring the first few days of production. The well subsequently experienced\ncasing collapse at the perforations. Since that time, the Company made\nadjustments to place the well back on production in a non-optimized\nconfiguration. Current production rates are approximately 25 to 30 bopd with a\nstrong fluid level as optimization continues, compared to prior production of\nseven bopd.\n\n\nTaking these results into account, Bankers believes that newly planned\nthermal wells will be de...