June 2008 Presentation : Link here

March 2008 AST Write Up : Link TMF Post Ascent Article Archive Folder : Link to AST archive folder

Detailed Info on Italian Prospects : Link to post 2 (Explo.)

Detailed Info on Swiss Prospects : Link to post 3 (Explo.)

Detailed Info on Spanish Prospects : Link to post 4 (Prod. + Explo.)

Detailed Info on Dutch Prospects : Link to post 5 (Explo.)

Detailed Info on Hungarian Prospects : Link to post 6 (Prod + Explo.)

Detailed Info on Slovenia & Gabon Prospects : Link to post 7 (Explo.)



Web Site : http://www.ascentresources.co.uk

Email : info@ascentresources.co.uk

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Oil and Gas Guide for those who want to know more : Link to PDF file

http://www.oilbarrel.com/email_index.html?page=/news/article.html?body=1&key=oilbarrel_en:1186538483&feed=oilbarrel_en

08.08.2007

At Ascent Resources All Eyes Are On Not One But Three Potentially Exciting Prospects In Italy

Ascent Resources has a portfolio of over 20 gas and oil projects across six countries in Europe. The projects are onshore in Switzerland, Hungary, Spain, Slovenia and offshore in the Netherlands. The company operates Spains only onshore oilfield where production is currently 110 barrels of oil per day. With stable European gas markets, Ascents portfolio favours gas over oil. As just stated, with the exception of the Netherlands all its projects are located onshore where operating and development costs are substantially lower than they are offshore.

While there are ongoing projects in all these countries, Italy is very much the focus of attention at the moment and it might be felt that managing director Jeremy Eng has certainly not allowed the grass to grow under his feet in this regard. Having said the portfolio favours gas we are currently awaiting the results of the Anagni-1 well appraisal in the Frosine permit in the Latina Basin some 80km south of Rome. This is oil and the discovery well, which was reported a month ago, gave hopes that it might portend a substantial find. The shares have risen substantially on the news but we must have the appraisal. Only Doctor Drill will tell us what is down there - this could become known within the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, it has been announced that the Arrone-1 well has been spudded. This is acreage Ascent picked up in December 2005 through a farm-in deal with JKX Oil & Gas. Ascent agreed to pay 50 per cent of a first exploration well and a one per cent royalty on any subsequent production in return for a 40 per cent interest in the permit.

The 358 sq km Fiume Arrone Permit lies along the coast to the west of Rome and is home to two 1955 wells, Roma-1 and Roma-2, of which one had gas shows. Arrone-1 well be drilled to a depth of 950 metres and will target a gas prospect identified from seismic.

The company has now announced action on a third venture in Italy. Ascent has entered into an agreement with Deltana Energy of Australia to farm out a 50 per cent 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 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 into production. Ascents permits 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 target is a Pliocene prospect in the western part of the permit at a depth of about 2,400 metres.

First though, investors will be keen to hear news of the Anagni-1 production test. Ascent has a 80 per cent interest in the permit, with Pentex Italia holding the balance. The well was designed as a stratigraphic well to test the subsurface make-up of the rocks in an area with poor seismic coverage. Specifically the company was looking for the carbonate platform of the Northern Appenine Thrust. This was found at a depth of 865 metres.

But, as the well went deeper, Ascent observed oil shows and found reservoir quality encouraging the company to invest more dollars and turn this well into a true exploration well. Earlier this year the company suspended the well so it could bring in equipment to deepen the well to around 2,000 metres - double the pre-drill target depth - and test the oil reservoir.

The discovery was not a complete surprise - oil is known in the area, including the Ripi oilfield 40 km away - but the potential size of the reservoir could be. Ascent is currently production testing over a 450 metre gross reservoir section. This is a thick reservoir section and the company said the log data indicates continuous limestone with extensive dolomitised zones totalling over 140 metres within the 450 metres while porosity in the dolomite frequently exceeds 10 per cent (eight per cent is about the minimum for a decent oil well). So, there is everything to wait for.

Interesting news today (forgot Arrone-1 it was only a small gas play) but the Anagni play is producing 200 barrels of fluid per day (being presently recovered drilling fluid with 0.5% cut of oil).

As they have recovered 20% of the drilling fluid (with 0.5% oil cut) in a week (around 1400 barrels) there should be another say 5 or 6 weeks before they start to see a high cut of oil (as its last in, first out).

All to play for, and very good news to see the formation is flowing well, however,the hot money will be gone now, and back in 4 to 5 weeks no doubt.

In summary on the Anagni prospect :


We have a 200 bpd pump, working at 200 bpd.

They have lost loads of drilling fluid during the drill, and are now recovering it.

They have recovered 20%, and another 80% lies within to be taken out.

Once the remaining 80% is out (well actually before that), you'll know if oil flows or not.

The main points today :

1. The structure is flowing at 200 bpd with a 200 bpd pump. So we know the structure now flows.

2. No mention of the dreaded "water".

3. Oil is there, and will hopefully increase its cut % as more the drilling fluid is got out.

4. The system works on Last In, First Out......all that drilling fluid went in under pressure, and must be taken out before any large percentage of oil can flow.

5. The seismic has confirmed the "significant potential" of the updip locations :)


Therefore, as JE says, everything is on track at Anagni.

We should perhaps expect some news before 20th Sept imv, as there is an OilBarrel.com conference with Ascent doing a presentation on the 20th, so they should want to present the latest information, so hopefully an Anagni should come just prior to this event.

http://www.oilbarrel.com/events.html

Oil Barrel conference :

Thursday 20th September 2007, 9.30am to 1.00pm

Venue: The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, EC1
In association with BDO Stoy Hayward

The following companies will present:

Ascent Resources Plc

Global Energy Development Plc

Island Oil & Gas Plc Plc

Pacific Asia China Energy Inc

Regal Petroleum Plc

A sixth company tbc

Not sure if my analagy is going to be correct, and I look forward to someone correcting it if not.

Lets imagine that this potential reservoir is a pudding bowl (upside down). The crest of the bowl, the highest point and also the one with the greatest depth, is in the middle. As you go towards the edges so the depth of the bowl (due to the tapering height) becomes less.

So Ascent have drilled (and this was a geologic well aimed at gathering data in an area with poor seismic coverage) and suddenly found themselves in a potential reservoir section with oil. However, they have drilled on the outside of the "pudding bowl", the flank.

They have lost what appears to be around 7000 barrels of drilling fluid into the formation. This likely explains why they stopped the deepening of the well early (they were due to extend the well to 2000m from 1000m, however stopped after only a few hundred metres, when you take in just how much drilling fluid they lost, it probably explains why (on top of the fact they know from the seismic that they are on the outside of the "pudding bowl" (the flank)) why they stopped the deepening. If you note from the 28th June RNS they clearly state "Final depth of the well will be determined by the nature of the formations encountered and also, by the volumes of lost drilling fluid, the recovery of which may be necessary during the testing phase." My "rose tinted" specs thinking is they just simply run out of drilling fluid, and rather than keep putting more and more in, they had better stop, take it out, test and then better spend the money drilling the crest well Anagni-2, as they could only gain so much info from a flank well like Anagni-1.

The next wells (already submitted for approval) will now, after using the new seismic just taken, be drilled "updip" or if you like "up pudding bowl", and target the centre point of the "pudding bowl" (being "crest" drills). These wells will therefore give them the maximum depth of the play (and we still have no clue as to how deep this might go, it could be 1500m, 2000m, 3000m, 5000m.....nobody knows) and so how deep the potential play is might be the 450m already found, it might be 1000m of play, might be 2000m of play.......again, nobody knows).

Anagni-1 should we hope produce some oil, even if as it is drilled on the flank and that will be the sign that this is a real oil find of what might be major size. Failure to produce at Anagni-1 will not be the end of the story, as it is a flank well, failure would be when the crest well Anagni-2 is drilled and if that failed to produce too imv.

Where it gets all very technical is how they drill "Anagni-2".....there are such things are "underbalanced" drilling which if (hope I am correct) "very overbalanced drilling" pressures the drilling fluid into the reservoir, "underbalanced drilling" will not and will encourage the reservoir fluids to enter the wellbore, or there is "air drilling" where no fluids are used etc... Don't ask me how they will drill it, thats perhaps a question for JE at the Oil Barrel Conference on the 20th Sept for anyone going to it.

For those expecting terrific flows, given its a flank well, you'll not be getting that imv.

The top of the formation is where the pressure is the highest, as oil and gas migrate upwards until they hit a "seal" and it is there at the top point of this seal were the maximum pressure is. By AST hitting the side (flank) they will be in an area where pressure will not be at its highest.

My summary will be, if Anagni-1 does not flow oil at high levels, its not a concern as its a flank well, however it is a very very positive sign that a crest well drilled to bottom point will be very commercial.

Something at Anagni-1 is pushing behind the drilling fluid and allowing a 200bpd pump to pump out that infiltrated drilling fluid at 200bpd.

Rome was not built in one day, and the absolute potential of this newly found structure will not be known from just one drill. Patience and a wait for Anagni-2 is the key, however, in the meantime, Anagni-1 progress can keep derisking the structure.

So far all the pointers are positive, the next pointer will be a slightly increasing oil cut in the drilling fluids being recovered. The pointer after that will be an increasing oil cut again. Final pointer will be the flow of some oil after all the driling fluid is out, if you get all those three pointers, then a crest well to bottom point via Anagni-2 will be very derisked into leading to what could be a large and commercial oil field.

This little picture might help explain (again it just an opinon), and like I said, it just my analagy (pudding bowls) to try to put things into simple terms...........and I await to be corrected by those who know much more than me - I just like to think of things in simple to understand terms. The below is based on a anticline, however the position of the wells and therefore updip/pressure is explained, I think.

Just been doing lots of "Italian to English" translations and getting some background info from the Italian local papers over the last 6 months etc..

It seems that Pentex Italy (the partner with Ascent on the Frosinone (Anagni) permit is the operator of the nearby Ripi field.

Pentex produce 1520 bopd from the nearby Ripi field.

They think there is one massive oil system which has created the Ripi field, and also the potential Anagni field (if you go to WH Ireland 2006 report you'll see this sentance """"""The acreage surrounds a shallow producing field, Ripi. Ascent believes that the Ripi oil is characteristic of older, deeper oil as is the case elsewhere in Italy and will be targeting the larger deep prospects.""""""), the type of oil at Ripi is the kind of oil that comes from the big deep fields (in the case of Ripi it appears to have been pushed up at some stage into the shallows in that area. During all the movements of the rock over time, an amount of this deeper oil has been forced upwards and filled the shallow sands at Ripi, which is why they say the oil at Ripi is characteristic of "deeper structures").

This major oil system they think has created other fields, and apparently permitting is under way (being fast tracked?) to drill Strangologalli as the system may also have created another field there. Strangologalli is another license in this area. Frosinone consists of the Anagni and Veroli leads, and Strangologalli consists of 1 lead so far. The only other prospect in the Latina Valley (known at present) was the potential for a gas play at the coast being Arrone, this was P&A as we know, although gas was there, the sands were not good enough to be a reservoir of commercial size.

So the general concensus is that potentially there was one massive oil "river" as they like to say, and this has created oil pockets in the area. Ripi was one, Anagni appears to be another, Stangologalli is favoured to be another, however there is a chance that one of these (and it could be Anagni or it could not) will be the main pocket, thats fed all the others over time as things have moved around and then become trapped on its own. If Anagni is not the major pocket (with potentially many hundreds of millions of barrels), its around there somewhere hopefully, and it makes the Frosinone license very valuable now imv. Even if there is not major pocket now, there may be several smaller, but still very significant in size, pockets around.

I may have rose tinted specs, but after spending time reading all that lot, it would appear to me that the Ripi oils in the shallows potentially came from Anagani during rock movements in the past. It would be a good question to ask JE perhaps, and that is, does the oil recovered so far at Anagni resemeble the oil being produced by your partner Pentex over at the nearby Ripi field ?

There is a lot of talk of a major system in this area, lets hope that Ascent stick a drill bit (or have already) right into it.

I should add that the Ripi oilfield is in the Strangolagalli area, so one would estimate that they think these deep oils pushed upwards into the shallows at Ripi, are also present elsewhere in the Strangolagalli area.


As ever, IMO and DYOR !


***********************************

The LATINA VALLEY comprises of

FROSINONE - Anagni (80% AST) - Oil prospect (now drilling/logging) (potential for two further drills to be planned in to define the potential (large? :))reservoir)

FROSINONE - Veroli (70% (80%?) AST - Oil prospect (to be drilled future)

STRANGOLAGALLI - (50% AST) - Oil prospect (to be drilled future)

FIUME ARRONE - Arrone - (56% AST) - Small gas prospect on the coast (P&A Aug 07)

For those who like to dream ahead.............

On an "in the ground" basis, on being Italy and 10$ being fair value for Italy (and thats low and conservative) for in the ground per barrel, you can easily work some figures.

10mmbo recoverable would equate (with 298m shares) to 16.7p a share to add on.

This is 16.7p a share base value, then add on the all the other plays, which given AST was trading around 15p, then its 15p plus 16.7p.

25mmbo recoverable would equate to 42p a share to add on.

50mmbo recoverable would equate to 83.8p a share to add on.

100mmbo recoverable would equate to 167.6p a share to add on.

200mmb recoverable would equate to 335p a share to add on.

500mmb recoverable would equate to 838p to share to add on.


This is a base value, a bottom if you like, as and when AST produce, the value per barrel increases.



(This is why lots of so called experts were saying 30p was fair value already, as they INCORRECTLY took the potential shallows at Anagni being 6 to 10mmbo and came to the 31.6p value..........and said it was priced in. They made the mistake of not reading the RNS and finding that the shallows were dry, but Ascent had hit a deeper and likely much bigger structure. For me, I hope its a 50mmbo one.......of course, anything bigger and I will not be complaining.) We must of course remember there may be 0mmbo..........risk/reward and all that.

Ascent Resources Holding(s) in Company

RNS Number:9477C Ascent Resources PLC
29 August 2007

Ascent Resources plc (the "Company")

Holdings in Company

The Company was today notified by RAB Energy Fund Ltd ("RAB Energy"), that on
28th August 2007, RAB Energy acquired 350,000 ordinary shares of 0.1p each in
the Company ("Ordinary Shares"). RAB Energy holds a total of 62,622,619
Ordinary Shares registered in the name of Credit Suisse Client Nominees (UK)
Limited, which represents 21.02% of the Company's issued ordinary share capital.

Ends

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

looks like RAB agree with you PP

For those wanting to get a little more insight into whats potentially happened at Anagni-1 (with the drilling fluid going into the very porous formation) maybe this RNS from Sounds Oil today will explain something similar.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200708311418071055D


.

Added this to the header :



Oil and Gas Guide for those who want to know more : Link to PDF file

Click here to register : http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/eventregistration.php

Details :

Proactive Investors One2One Forums

25th September 2007 ASCENT RESOURCES & Landore Resources

Each company will present for 20 minutes with 10 minutes Q&A to follow. After the presentations are complete the directors will be available to take questions during a free canapand wine reception which will be open until 9pm

5:45pm for a prompt 6:00pm start at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel, 35 Charles Street, Mayfair, W1J 5EB

Does anyone have any questions for AST ? We are putting a list together, that will hopefully get asked after the Proactive presentation on the 25th Sept.

Any questions, then please let me know.

The present question list is :

1/ Will the first Swiss drill be farmed down, or will Ascent drill with the 90% holding ?

2/ Will the first Swiss drill be in Q4 07 ? or will it likely slip into Q1 08 ?

3/ The first Swiss drill, will it be for gas or for oil ? Which prospect is likely to be first up, Bern-1, Bern-2 or Vaud ?

4/ Page 27, annual report, Director's report.
" At end of the first drilling programme, due for completion in Q2 2007, the Company plans an independent reserves valuation of the portfolio to record proved (P1), probable (P2) and possible (P3) reserves

What is the progress towards this?

5/ Whats happening in Spain, everything seems to have ground to a halt, will you look at selling off the Spanish assets now that Italy is becoming of more importance to Ascent ?

6/ Hungary, Bajsca.......drilling still due to commence in Q4 07 ?

7/ It has been said the oil produced at Ripi (by your partner in the Anagni well) is of the type associated with deeper reservoirs, is the oil type at Anagni the same type as at Ripi ?

8/ Assuming Anagni is commercial.....is there a high chance of further commercial structures in the Anagni to Ripi area ? and also on the Fosinone license area ?

9/ On the Frosinone license area you have one further lead, being Veroli, and also the Strangologalli license area. In the Italian media there was talk of "fast track" of a drill in Strangolagalli. Is this the case that this will be the next lead (ignoring the two appraisal wells at Angagni) to be drilled ? and if so, when is the Veroli lead likely to be investigated ?

Nice move JE.

Adds to the realisation that Italy is going to be, potentially, very big for Ascent.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200709050701393078D

Ascent Resources PLC
05 September 2007

Ascent Resources plc ('Ascent' or the 'Company')

To purchase 22.5% of Italian Drilling Contractor

Ascent Resources plc, the AIM traded oil and gas exploration and production company, is to acquire a 22.5% interest in Italian drilling contractor Perazzoli Drilling srl ('Perazzoli'). The acquisition will provide Ascent, through its subsidiary Ascent Drilling Limited ('Ascent Drilling'), with priority access to Perazzoli's rigs, enabling it to more efficiently schedule the Company's exploration and appraisal drilling programmes on its European gas and oil portfolio, as well as additional revenue.

Ascent Drilling is to be owned 50% by Ascent Resources plc and 50% by Midnight Energy Limited, a company controlled by Malcolm Groom, also a director of Ascent Resources plc. Ascent Drilling will be acquiring 45% of the shares of Perazzoli and Ascent's interest will be in 22.5% of those shares.

Under the terms of the letter of intent signed between Perazzoli and Ascent Drilling, Perazzoli will acquire the 100 tonne Corsair 300 drilling rig from its parent company and is to order a WEI DS-205 200 tonne drilling rig for delivery in mid 2008. The Italian manufactured new build WEI rig is one of the latest generation of hydraulic rigs, which are low profile, designed for minimum environmental impact, and capable of drilling to over 3,600m. The Corsair rig,which has a drilling capability of over 2,000m, has been used continuously by Ascent in Spain and Italy over the past 8 months to drill 3 wells and for the deepening of the Anagni-1 oil discovery well.

Across Europe there is currently a shortage of drilling contractors. This is due to an increase in exploration activity over the past two years, including the German geothermal initiative, which has adsorbed drilling capacity. In Italy, the shortage of properly certified drilling rigs is particularly severe. With a 22.5% share in Perazzoli, Ascent will be able to prioritise its drilling slots as well as gain financially from the rental of the two rigs to third parties. Perazzoli has a strong order book and contracts with other operators in Italy will see both rigs fully engaged for the foreseeable future. Ascent will initially use the rigs to drill on its Italian and Swiss projects and expects to use them for circa 20% of their operational time.

Ascent's drilling plans with Perazzoli includes the Gazzata exploration well on the Bastiglia exploration permit in the Po Valley, which is being fully funded by its 50% farm-in partner Deltana Energy Limited, the first of the Swiss
appraisal wells, where a farm-out is under discussion, as well as two appraisal wells at Anagni and a further exploration well on the Frosinone permit.
Drilling on projects in Hungary, Slovenia and the Netherlands will be with other contractors.

Ascent's Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, 'We have over 20 projects in our portfolio and the seven wells drilled to date have been on only four of these projects. These first wells were the easier shallow wells all less than 2,000m.
The next wells are generally deeper and target more prospective and substantially larger targets. Market conditions, particularly in Italy at the present time, make taking a strategic interest in an Italian drilling company
very advantageous to Ascent. Not only does it allow us to drill at a time convenient to us but it will also contribute to revenues.'

EVO presently on their own on the offer.

For reference.

Its said that EVO (Evolution) are going to stop being MM's across a few smaller oil stocks, and so its no surprise they are on their own on the offer.

Ascent Resources plc / Epic: AST / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil and Gas


10th September 2007

Ascent Resources plc ('Ascent' or the 'Company') Finalises Hungarian Joint Venture with MOL RT

Ascent Resources plc, the AIM traded oil and gas exploration and production company, through its 90% owned Hungarian company PetroHungaria kft, has signed a Joint Development and Joint Operating Agreement with Hungarian company MOL, for the redevelopment of the Bajcsa Gasfield in south western Hungary. The redevelopment project is designed to recover additional gas reserves through the horizontal recompletion of existing wells.

The Bajcsa field is 6 kilometres south of Nagykanizsa near the Hungarian Croatian border. It was originally brought on stream in 1961 and has produced from over 20 wells. The field has seven stacked reservoirs with the majority of production coming from two, VII/b and III. Total production to date is circa 470 million cu. m (16.6 Bcf). The horizontal recompletions, to be drilled from the existing vertical wells, are designed to significantly increase production rates and recover gas from un-depleted parts of the reservoirs. It is planned to drill the first two horizontal recompletions towards the end of 2007. Importantly, because the field is already on production, gas from these wells can immediately be delivered to market.

The Joint Venture has already completed extensive reservoir and horizontal well studies and will jointly plan and implement the drilling of the new wells, which will use Rotary rigs already under contract to MOL. Incremental production will be shared between MOL and PetroHungaria.

Ascent's Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, "This project has many important elements; By working in an existing producing field it will provide additional proven reserves to the Group; it has the ability to immediately sell produced gas without having to wait on new development approval and there are other similar opportunities in the surrounding area, not least of which is one of the Ascent operated Slovenian gas project at Petisovci Globocki."

* * ENDS * *

Well, we should be expecting interims around the 18th Sept (as they are due prior 30th and Ascent are doing Oil Barrel on the 20th so you'd expect them out prior to Oil Barrel).

So not long to wait for an Anagni update, we might even get one in isolation ahead of the interims, to focus on the progress there.

Exciting times ahead.

Up trend continuing today.

PP, on a seperate off topic note, have you researched HAWK. I think there is lot's of mileage to be had there.

I have updated the Bajsca info in the header posts following the comments by Mark Slater (webcast on www.t1ps.com)

Bajsca is said to be potentially hold around 1 TCF of recoverable gas (worth potentially 2 billion euro) of which AST has 45%.

The hope for Anagni is its a 100m+ barrel find, and it could be worth 5,6 or 7 times the current price. Apparently the big Tempa Rossa find in Italy was the same, and it took quite some time to get the oil flowing out. The last update was at 20 days (24th August) (and extraction of drilling mud was 20%) so therefore as we stand now they should have extracted around 40% now, with around another 60+ days of mud extraction to go.

Total drilling mud loss in the well was around 20,000 barrels.


sivermede - have looked but all my oily money is in AST and IPL presently :)

http://www.oilbarrel.com/email_index.html?page=/news/article.html?body=1&key=oilbarrel_en:1189648917&feed=oilbarrel_en


13.09.2007

Ascent Resources Set To Drill Tight Gas Reservoirs In Hungary This Year

Two years ago AIM-listed Ascent Resources signed an MoU with Hungarian firm MOL to work together on the redevelopment of tight gas reservoirs in the southwest of the country. Now that MoU has been cemented with the signing of a Joint Development and Joint Operating Agreement for the redevelopment of the producing Bajcsa gas field, a project that promises a near-term uplift in reserves and production.

The plan is to use state-of-the-art recompletion techniques to unlock difficult-to-access reserves and improve flowrates from low permeability reservoirs. The gas would then be processed and transported using the existing production infrastructure, keeping development costs low and timelines short.

Despite these attractions, the project would have struggled to move off the drawing board without fiscal incentives. Earlier this year Hungarys Ministry of Economy and Transport granted the enhanced gas recovery project a reduced royalty rate of 12.46 per cent, down from 70 per cent. This improvement is in line with the hydrocarbon law for new investment in oil fields and comes as a result of a lobbying campaign by MOL and Ascent. This royalty reduction makes a significant difference to the project, managing director Jeremy Eng told oilbarrel.com in April 2007. Without this, the project would be marginal.

The Bajcsa field lies 6 km south of Nagykanizsa near the Hungarian-Croatian border. It was originally brought on stream in 1961 and, to date, has produced some 16.6 billion cubic feet of gas from over 20 wells. The majority of the gas has come from the VII/b and III reservoirs, just two of the seven stacked reservoirs that make up the field. Current production levels are fairly minor.

MOL and Ascent plan to drill horizontal recompletions from the existing vertical wellbores. This should boost flowrates and drain gas from undepleted reservoirs. The exact increase in production wont be known until the partners get to work. Shareholders wont have long to wait for the results: the first two horizontal recompletions will go down towards the end of this year and the gas can be immediately sold to market.

Interestingly these reservoirs extend across the border into eastern Slovenia, where earlier this year Ascent bagged interests in two fields through its acquisition of Nemmoco Slovenia Corp. Ascent bought Nemmoco in February, thereby securing a 45 per cent interest in the Petisovci Dolina (P-D) oil and gas fields and a 15.75 per cent interest in the underlying Petisovci Globoki gasfield (P-G).

These fields, discovered back in 1942, currently produce minor amounts of oil and gas but are thought to hold substantial additional reserves. The remaining proven plus probable oil reserves in the P-D reservoirs are estimated to be 10.7 million barrels with the P50 gas-in-place estimate on the deeper P-G reservoirs put at a rather meaty 579 bcf. Again, modern completion and production technologies will be key to unlocking this potential.

The deeper P-G gas accumulation has been tested by the drillbit in recent years, with Grove Energy, now part of Canadas Stratic Energy, drilling and then deepening the D-14 well. The results were disappointing but not a disaster: despite strong gas shows while drilling, the deeper E-1 reservoir did not produce from an open-hole test and the well was suspended without a fracture stimulation. Fraccing could well be the key to producing from these tight gas reservoirs. If MOL and Ascent have success over the border in Hungary, it will encourage investors that the P-G reservoir can also be made to work, unlocking a substantial gas resource that, given the existing production infrastructure, could prove a nice addition to the bottomline.