Expansion of Chisholm Trail Prospect

RNS Number : 7411D

Nostra Terra Oil & Gas Company PLC

01 May 2013

 



AIM: NTOG

1 May 2013

Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company plc

("Nostra Terra" or the "Company")

Expansion of Chisholm Trail Prospect

Issue of Equity

Chisholm Trail Update

Nostra Terra, the AIM quoted oil and gas producer with projects in the USA, is pleased to announce that following the acquisition of additional acreage, the Company is now exposed to 21 potential drilling locations at the Chisholm Trail Prospect (the "Prospect").

As originally announced on 29 August 2012, Nostra Terra acquired a 20 percent interest in the Prospect.  During drilling, an on-going leasing program has also been underway to expand the Prospect holdings. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission spacing rules allow an operator to 'control' one-half of a section (a 320 acre spacing unit), within which a well is drilled.  The latest update from the Company's partner in the Prospect, Ward Petroleum Corporation ("Ward"), has confirmed within the current acreage footprint of the Prospect, the partners own varying interests in 21 half sections, five of which have been drilled and in which NTOG has participated. Sixteen more half-sections remain to be drilled targeting the same geological formation as Gastar Exploration Ltd. (NYSE: GST) ("Gastar").  The Board believes this is a low-risk, high-return play and will prepare reserve estimates later in the year.

Gastar announced on 1 April 2013, a US$85 million acquisition and legal settlement and the economic impact of drilling activity in the "core area" of their horizontal Hunton Limestone Play. A portion of this play is located in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, close to the Company's Chisholm Trail Prospect area.  They estimate that they are exposed to approximately 100 million BOE (net resource-potential) based on the reserve estimates of 65 net drilling locations.  The Gastar acquisition closes on 7 June 2013 and the Board expects drilling activity by operators in the area to accelerate shortly thereafter.

The Company's fifth well on the Prospect (CT5), in which it has a 2.2% working interest, has reached total depth and is being prepared for completion. Further announcements will be made in due course. The acquisition of leases, spacing hearings and well permitting still continues by the partners in the Chisholm Trail Prospect area. Once elections are received and made on further wells, the Company will make relevant announcements.

Issue of equity

Nostra Terra is also pleased to announce it has raised £502,750 under its aggregated stand-by equity distribution agreement with Yorkville Global Advisors, as amended on 23 October 2012, through the issue of 123,546,296 new ordinary shares of 0.1p ("Ordinary Shares") at an average price of 0.407p per share. The majority of the proceeds have been deployed to acquire additional leases and expand the Prospect, along with developing further opportunities.

Accordingly, application will be made for the 123,546,296 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Dealings in the new Ordinary Shares are expected to commence on 8 May 2013. Following admission, the Company's issued ordinary share capital will consist of 2,579,711,610 Ordinary Shares. The new Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the Ordinary Shares of the Company currently traded on AIM.  

Matt Lofgran, Chief Executive Officer of Nostra Terra, commented:

"We now, through our agreement with Ward, have acquired a land position in 21 potential drilling locations, where only 5 have been drilled so far (4 currently producing).  We're very pleased to have increased our acreage position in what is turning out to be an exciting emerging play, which has been affirmed by Gastar's recent larger acquisition in the play.

While activity increases on Chisholm Trail, we're also moving forward to expand our greater portfolio further, including those in which we'll operate."

Alden McCall, Chief Operating Officer of Nostra Terra, added:

"The Expected Ultimate Recovery ("EUR") of a well is calculated after at least six months of production. We estimate approximately 75,000 BOE is required to reach payout for these relatively expensive wells and the learning curve to understanding the lithology, fracking and completion technologies benefits operators greatly over time. For example, Gastar recently announced that the peak rate for their first six wells in their Horizontal Hunton Play was 342 BOEPD with an expected EUR of 226,000 BOE (c.3x payout). We were encouraged to learn that their most recent seven wells, however, nearly doubled that projection and averaged 645 BOEPD with expected EUR of 436,000 BOE (c.5.8x payout). The most recent 10-day average of one well even reached 968 BOE. Gastar averages 85% oil in their area while we are averaging between 75% and 80% oil. The Ward partners are realizing oil sales of about US$95 per barrel, and gas sales of about US$6 per thousand cubic feet of gas; the blended average revenue was approximately US$65/boe during the month of February, 2013.

Our wells have only been on production three months. Although it is too early to make meaningful projections, we expect to see similar trends in our wells over the long-term. No dry holes have been reported by any operator in the area."

For further information, visit www.ntog.co.uk or contact:

Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company plc

Matt Lofgran, CEO

[e-mail]                                                       Telephone: [phone]

Shore Capital & Corporate Limited (Nominated Adviser) 

Bidhi Bhoma/ Toby Gibbs                                                 Telephone: [phone]

XCAP Securities plc (Joint Broker)                            

Jon Belliss / Halimah Hussain                                          Telephone: [phone]

Alexander David Securities Ltd (Joint Broker)

David Scott / Bill Sharp                                                     Telephone: [phone]

Lothbury Financial Services Limited

Gary Middleton / Michael Padley                                       Telephone: [phone]

Notes:

In September 2012, Nostra Terra entered into an agreement with Ward Petroleum for the Chisholm Trail Prospect, a multi-well horizontal drilling project in Oklahoma. The prospect area is large in size and a leasing programme is on-going.  Nearby drilling has resulted in several wells that produce in excess of 200boepd after the first 30 days of "flush" production. Nostra Terra owns a 20% interest in this active programme within which working interests in the individual wells vary. Based on results from neighbouring wells, we anticipate this prospect also has the potential to deliver rapid payouts with continued strong production levels.

Ward Petroleum Corporation, based in Enid Oklahoma, was founded in 1963 by Lew Ward, its Chairman. Mr. Ward is a past-President of the Independent Producers Association of America (IPAA) and is a respected member of the oil producers' community of the United States. Among its industry honours, Ward Petroleum has been listed in the top 100 fastest growing American companies by Inc. magazine, and has been named a "Blue Chip Enterprise" by Nations Business magazine.  Since its founding, Ward Petroleum has drilled more than 800 wells in the Anadarko and Arkoma Basins, some as deep as 22,000 feet.  Ward Petroleum operates nearly 350 wells in Oklahoma throughout both basins.

 

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