Spuds Syrian Exploration Well
Gulfsands Petroleum PLC
26 April 2006
26 April 2006
Gulfsands Petroleum PLC
('Gulfsands' or 'the Company')
Gulfsands Commences Drilling Souedieh North Well in Block 26, Syria
Gulfsands Petroleum PLC (symbol GPX), the AIM listed oil and gas exploration,
development and production company with activities in the USA, Syria and Iraq,
announced today that the Company has commenced drilling the Souedieh North well
within Block 26, Syria.
Gulfsands, the operator and 50% working interest owner in Block 26, has
commenced the drilling of the Souedieh North exploration well located in the
northeast region of Block 26. This vertical well will be drilled to an
approximate total depth of 7,216 feet with the primary objective being
Cretaceous aged reservoirs similar to those producing in the adjacent Souedieh
and Karachok oil fields. This prospect has the potential to contain in excess
of 100 million barrels of recoverable oil (Gulfsands' internal estimate of
potential). The drilling and logging results for this well should be completed
within the next 30 days. The net cost to Gulfsands for drilling and evaluating
this well is approximately $800,000.
Gulfsands' CEO, John Dorrier, said:
'Souedieh North is the first well in our Block 26 exploration drilling campaign
and will test a low cost, high potential prospect in a reservoir that is
currently producing oil in adjacent fields. The Company utilized seismic
analysis from the adjacent Souedieh Field to identify the prospect and drilling
success here can be rapidly followed up in similar nearby prospects.
Furthermore, the Company has a large inventory of independent prospects
available for drilling during the coming months in its exploration and appraisal
work in Block 26, including the Tigris structure which is expected to commence
drilling this August.'
Enquiries:
Gulfsands Petroleum (Houston) 001-713-626-9564
David DeCort, Chief Financial Officer
College Hill (London) 020-7457-2020
Ben Brewerton
Teather & Greenwood (London) 020-7426-9000
James Maxwell (Corporate Finance)
Tanya Clarke (Specialist Sales)
Note to Editors
• Gulf of Mexico, USA
The Company owns interests in 64 offshore blocks comprising approximately
216,000 gross acres which includes 39 producing oil and gas fields offshore
Texas and Louisiana with proved and probable recoverable reserves of 32.4 BCFGE,
consisting of 19.8 BCFG and 2.1 MMBO as of 1 January 2006 with a net present
value of $183 million. Additionally, there is a further 2.8 BCFGE of possible
recoverable reserves with a net present value of $15.8 million.
• Syria
In Syria, Gulfsands owns a 50% working interest in Block 26 and is the operator.
The block covers 11,000 square kilometres and surrounds areas which currently
produce over 100,000 barrels of oil per day from existing fields. In January
2006 the Company completed the acquisition of 1,155 kilometers of 2D seismic and
anticipates drilling two wells during 2006. The first well, known as Souedieh
North, commenced drilling in late April 2006 and has the potential to contain in
excess of 100 MMBO. The second well known as Tigris is scheduled to spud in
August of 2006 and has the potential to contain in excess of 500 MMBOE.
Gulfsands has identified 31 total exploitation and exploration prospects within
Block 26 with mean resources potential exceeding 1 billion barrels of
recoverable oil.
An independent reserves report was issued in January 2006 on the Tigris
structure. The reserves were classified as either oil or gas bearing until such
time as the Company drills and tests the Tigris structure. The reserve report
concluded that there are 442 BCFG of probable recoverable reserves in the Tigris
structure. Additionally, the report classified the possible reserves as either
natural gas or oil. The gas case reflected an additional 442 BCFG in possible
recoverable reserves and an additional 3447 BCFG as prospective resource. The
oil case reflects 104 MMBO and 64 BCFG in possible recoverable reserves and a
further 408 MMBO and 245 BCFG as prospective resource. In summary, the natural
gas case equates to total recoverable reserves potential among probable
reserves, possible reserves and prospective resource as 4330 BCFG (722 MMBOE),
while the oil case equates to 512 MMBO and 308 BCFG (combined 563 MMBOE).
• Iraq
Gulfsands signed a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2005 with the Ministry
of Oil in Iraq for the Misan Gas Project in Southern Iraq and is currently
negotiating the definitive contract for the project. The project will gather,
process and transmit natural gas that is currently a waste by-product of oil
production in the region and will end the environmentally damaging practice of
gas flaring. Gulfsands has completed a feasibility study and expects to conduct
further technical work and commercial discussions with the Iraq Oil Ministry.
• Onshore USA
Gulfsands operates onshore in the USA through its 83% owned subsidiary company
Darcy Energy LLC. As of 1 January 2006, Darcy Energy owned interests in two oil
and gas fields onshore Texas, USA (Emily Hawes and Barb Mag) with proved and
probable recoverable reserves of 1.6 BCFGE, consisting of 1.2 BCFG and 58,000
barrels of oil with a net present value of $9.5 million. Additionally, there is
a further 2.2 BCFGE of possible recoverable reserves with a net present value of
$7.9 million.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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