Ascent Resources PLC
01 August 2007
Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas
1st August 2007
Ascent Resources plc ('Ascent' or 'the Company')
Signs Farm-out agreement for Cento and Bastiglia in Italy's Po Valley
Ascent Resources plc, the AIM-traded oil and gas exploration and production
company, has entered into an agreement with Deltana Energy Limited ('Deltana')
of Australia to farm-out a 50% interest in the 1,113 sq km Cento and Bastiglia
exploration permits in the Po Valley of Italy.
The Po Valley, which extends across the northern part of Italy from Turin in the
west to Venice and Ravenna in the east, is the one of the most productive areas
for gas and oil onshore in Europe. Since the first production in the 1950s,
over 130 fields have been put on production. Ascent's exploration permits,
located in the central part of the Po Plain near the cities of Modena to the
south, Mantova to the north and Bologna to the south east, are among the largest
in the region.
Under the terms of the agreement, Deltana will pay the cost of the first
exploration well and, on success, will pay the cost of a second exploration
well. The first well targets a Pliocene prospect in the western part of the
permits at a depth of about 2,400m and the second, one of the other prospects in
the permits. Deltana will also contribute to the historical costs on the permit
and pay the first €1.5 million of future seismic expenditure.
Ascent Resources Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, 'The terms of this farm-in
confirm our belief of the exceptional quality of the Cento and Bastiglia
exploration acreage. New exploration techniques have improved the chance of
success in gas exploration, which in the Po Valley is already better than 1 in 4
over the period since the 1950s.'
Geoffrey Bone CEO of Deltana said, 'Our entry into the Po Valley permits
represents a great strategic fit with Deltana's proposed Mediterranean strategy.
This is focussed on participating in low cost onshore exploration in low risk
and highly profitable gas producing provinces with established infrastructure.
Ascent's portfolio in the Po Valley matches our criteria perfectly.'
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For further information visit www.ascentresources.co.uk or contact:
Jeremy Eng Ascent Resources plc Tel: 020 7251 4905
Hugo de Salis St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: 020 7242 4477
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