TIDMCOP
RNS Number : 5689V
Circle Oil PLC
16 December 2013
16 December 2013
Circle Oil Plc
("Circle" or the "Company")
Operations Update
Circle Oil Plc (AIM: COP), the international oil and gas
exploration, development and production company, is pleased to
announce the following update regarding its operations.
Tunisia
The Company recently announced the award of the Grombalia
permit, following a competitive bid process. As stated in the
announcement, Circle will be the operator and hold a 100% working
interest in the new licence and has the right to apply for
conversion to production licence areas in the event of exploration
success.
The permit covers an area that includes existing oil and gas
field concessions and Circle has identified multiple prospects and
many leads having similar geological features to known
accumulations.
The farm-in in to the Beni Khalled and increased interest in the
offshore Mahdia Permit announced earlier this year, have now been
ratified by the Tunisian authorities. The Ras Marmour commitment
well is still awaiting its final permit to drill.
Planning has progressed for the offshore Mahdia commitment well,
with the recruitment of an offshore drilling manager in September
this year. Long lead items have been ordered, the Environmental
Impact Study completed and the Offshore Site Survey has been
tendered. Logistic support plans have been completed and the
Company is actively negotiating for a drilling unit. Expressions of
interest have been received regarding farming in to the prospect
and these are being pursued.
Egypt
Operations have continued on the NW Gemsa Permit with current
gross production of approximately 11,100 bopd and 11.8 MMscf/d of
gas giving total gross daily production of 13,150 boepd. Cumulative
production to date is 13.7 MMbo and 3.4 bcf of gas giving at total
cumulative production of 14.3 MMboe.
Plans for 2014 include the drilling of a limited number of water
wells, injectors and producers to maintain oilfield performance at
current levels as well as the updating of reservoir models.
Overall, the strategy remains to manage the field in line with
balancing current production levels, whilst optimising long-term
recovery using monitoring and advanced reservoir modelling. As
previously advised, overall capital expenditure in 2014 will reduce
again compared with the previous two years as the field moves
closer to maturity.
The recent AASE-15 well, located in the North West area of the
Al Amir SE (AASE) field, was sidetracked for geological reasons.
The well encountered 16 feet of net oil pay in the Rahmi sand and
has been completed first as a producer (perforations 10,094-10,120
feet MD) and will later be converted to a water injection well for
the Rahmi sand to support updip production in this western part of
the field. The well will be put on production shortly and the
results will be reported in a subsequent update. The rig has been
moved to the North Eastern part of the AASE field to drill well
AASE-19, planned as a Shagar producer.
Receipts from EGPC for the year are expected to be in-line with
our forecast and are also expected to be higher than those in 2012.
On the back of increased gross production levels of 3.75MMbo for
2013 up from 3.16MMbo for 2012, receivables due at year-end are
forecast to be lower than those at previous year end.
Oman
In Oman, the Company has bid for an onshore Block in the 2013
bid round and expects to be in a position to update the market on
the outcome of this process early in 2014.
Block 49
In Block 49, the Company expects to drill one exploration well
in the first half of 2014. The requisite drilling rig tender
documents have been submitted and a well location has now been
agreed. The well will target a potential shallow stratigraphic
prospect with a seismic anomaly in the Haushi sands and is regarded
as high risk with a GCOS 10-12%.
Block 52
The 2013 2D inshore marine seismic was tendered and awarded and
the vessel is presently expected on site early Q1 2014. The
acquisition programme will target the three identified inshore
prospects to delineate and rank them for drilling. The farm-out
process continues and, at present, two companies are evaluating the
data. In the event of an unsuccessful farm-out the Company will
consider, as an option, drilling one of the inshore prospects sole
risk.
Morocco
Production has continued throughout H2 of 2013 in line with
expectations in the region 6.8-7.0 MMscf/d gross, fulfilling
existing commercial contracts.
The second half of the year has seen the installation of a 9.4
kilometre extension to the 8-inch pipeline which was completed last
year. This extension will allow hooking in of the remaining
existing wells into the infrastructure and also assist in early
hook up for some of the new wells from the upcoming drilling
campaign, if successful. This will enable the Company to further
utilize existing capacity in its pipeline.
All material and consumables for the first six wells of the
drilling programme are onsite with the first drill-sites ready and
support contracts for wireline services and testing are in place.
The drilling rig to be utilized for the drilling is on block and
undergoing checking and maintenance prior to commencement of
drilling.
As previously indicated the drilling programme which will target
prospects in both the Sebou and Lalla Mimouna permits is aimed at
adding approximately 30 bcf to the reserve base. The programme will
involve drilling some 12 wells and two workovers and the redrill of
the KAB-1 target which suffered hole collapse prior to testing.
Drilling is expected to commence within the next few weeks, subject
to completion of the preparatory works described above.
Commenting Prof Chris Green, CEO, said:
"2014 will be a very active year operationally with substantial
drilling activity in all our areas of operation. Exploration
drilling in Morocco, onshore and offshore Tunisia, onshore Oman and
development drilling in Egypt will be augmented with work on the
new Beni Khalled permit.
The recently announced new permit in Grombalia, Tunisia creates
further potential for very significant upside and we await the
result of the Omani bid round."
Glossary
boepd barrels of oil equivalent per
day
bopd barrels of oil per day
bcf Billion cubic feet
GCOS Geological chance of success
MD Measured depth
MMbo Million barrels of oil
MMboe Million barrels of oil equivalent
MMscf/d Million standard cubic feet per
day
sq km square kilometres
2D Two dimensional
3D Three dimensional
In accordance with the guidelines of the AIM Market of the
London Stock Exchange, Professor Chris Green, Chief Executive
Officer of Circle Oil Plc, an explorationist and geophysicist with
over thirty years oil & gas industry experience, and Dr Stuart
Harker, VP Geology, also with over 30 years experience, are the
qualified persons as defined in the London Stock Exchange's
Guidance Note for Mining and Oil and Gas companies, who have
reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this
announcement. Professor Green and Dr Harker have relied on primary
information supplied by the operator in carrying out their
review.
For further information contact:
Circle Oil Plc
Professor Chris Green, CEO (+44 20 7638 9571)
Investec
Chris Sim
George Price
James Rudd (+44 20 7597 5970)
Liberum Capital Limited
Simon Atkinson
Clayton Bush
Tim Graham (+44 20 3100 2000)
CitigateDeweRogerson
Martin Jackson
Priscilla Garcia (+44 20 7638 9571)
Murray Consultants
Joe Murray
Joe Heron (+353 1 498 0300)
Notes to Editors
Circle Oil Plc (AIM: COP) is an international oil & gas
exploration, development and production Company with an expanding
portfolio of assets in Morocco, Tunisia, Oman and Egypt with a
combination of low-risk near-term production and significant
exploration upside potential. The Company listed on AIM in October
2004.
Internationally, the Company has continued to expand its
portfolio over the past two years and now has assets in the Rharb
Basin, Morocco; the Ras Marmour Permit in southern Tunisia; the
Mahdia Permit offshore Tunisia; the Grombalia Permit in northern
Tunisia and the Zeit Bay area of Egypt. Circle also has the largest
licence holding of any company in Oman. In addition to its
prospective Block 52 offshore, Circle also has an ongoing
exploration programme in Block 49 onshore.
Circle's strategy is to locate and secure additional licences in
prospective hydrocarbon provinces and through targeted investment
programmes, monetise the value in those assets for the benefit of
shareholders. This could be achieved through farm-outs to selected
partners who would then invest in and continue the development of
the asset into production, or Circle may itself opt to use its own
expertise to appraise reserves and bring assets into production,
generating sustained cash flow for further investment.
Further information on Circle is available on its website at
www.circleoil.net
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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