Gold Oil PLC
13 January 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 13, 2006
GOLD OIL PLC ('GOLD OIL' OR 'THE COMPANY')
GOLD OIL QUALIFIES AS OPERATOR AND SIGNS AN EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION LICENCE
FOR BLOCK XXI, NORTHWESTERN PERU
OPERATIONS IN NORTHERN PERU
Gold Oil, the London-based oil exploration company focused on the South American
and Caribbean region, announces that in late December 2005, the Company received
an Operator Certificate from PeruPetro that allows the Company to carry out
seismic, drilling and development operations in Northwest Peru.
The Promotion Licence signed with PeruPetro on October 15, 2004 with PeruPetro
for Block XI (now renamed Block XXI) onshore Sechura Basin has been converted to
an Exploration and Production Licence. The Licence now goes to the Ministry of
Energy and Mines for approval which could be forthcoming anytime between
February and May of this year.
The terms of the E&P Licence commit the Company to either shoot 120 km of 2D
seismic or drill a well in the first period of five over a seven year term. The
remaining four periods require the Company to either drill a well or drop the
acreage. The Licence is for a term of 30 years for oil and 40 years for gas,
with a minimum royalty of 5% on wellhead production for the first 5000bopd (30
MMscfd for gas) rising to 20% if and when production reaches 100,000 bopd (600
MMscfd for gas).
Commenting on today's announcement, Gary Moore, Managing Director of Gold Oil,
stated: 'The qualification as operator and signing of the E&P Licence are major
steps forward for the Company. We are now actively sourcing equipment to be
ready to drill up the Block as soon as the approval by the Ministry of Energy
and Mines is obtained. We already have the well locations identified and the
environmental Impact Assessment completed and expect to sign the drilling
management contract shortly with a local Peruvian contractor'.
ENQUIRIES:
Gary Moore Managing Director
Tel: +44 (0)1737 833597
Email: gmoore@goldoilplc.com
Mike Burchell Chairman
Tel: +44 (0)1372 361772
Email: mikeburchell@hotmail.com
Roland Cornish Beaumont Cornish Limited
Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396.
NOTE TO EDITORS
The Acreage
The area of Block XXI is equivalent to just less than 14 UK North Sea blocks.
The target reservoirs are mostly at shallow depths of +/-5,000 feet. Rig and
drilling costs enable wells here to be drilled typically for US$500,000 or less.
The block lies in a desert area, next to the city of Piura, and to the east of
an existing producing gas field. Both lie within the Sechura Basin, which is
adjacent to, and is believed to be a sub-basin of the Talara Basin.
The Talara Basin to the north and west has produced over 1.6 billion barrels of
oil over a period of 100 years. Independent assessments put the number of
reserves remaining to be discovered at 2.2 billion barrels and 5.8 trillion
cubic feet of gas. Gold Oil also holds exclusive rights over a second area here,
Block Z-34, in the offshore sector of the Talara Basin, also immediately offset
from producing fields.
Previously the Company had been interested in the gas bearing Verdun reservoirs
in Block XXI, but the recent well by PetroTech offshore Sechura Basin flowed oil
at 1200 bopd from the Paleozoic, a reservoir previously not considered over the
last 100 years as oil bearing. The Paleozoic reservoirs are believed to run
under Block XXI at around a depth of 6000 feet.
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