re: GED.L - Global Energy Development 270p (UK/AIM)
uk-wire.com
Global Energy Development PLC
04 January 2006
Immediate Release 4 January 2006
GLOBAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT PLC
NEW CONTRACT SIGNED IN COLOMBIA
CARACOLI AREA WITHIN THE PROMINENT MARACAIBO BASIN
Global Energy Development PLC ('Global' or the 'Company'), the Latin America
focused petroleum exploration and production company (LSE-AIM: 'GED'), is
pleased to announce that it has signed a new exclusive Exploration and
Production Concession contract for the Caracoli area (the 'Caracoli Contract')
with the National Hydrocarbons Agency of the Republic of Colombia. The Caracoli
Contract brings to seven the number of contracts Global now holds in Colombia,
all of which are 100% owned by Global.
The Caracoli Contract covers approximately 90,000 acres in the Catatumbo basin
located in north-eastern Colombia, with this basin being a sub-basin of the
prominent Maracaibo basin which extends in a south-westerly direction from
Venezuela into Colombia.
The Maracaibo basin exported its first oil in 1918, from 1927 to 1970 was the
largest oil exporter in the world, and today remains the second most
petroliferous basin in the world according to the U.S. Department of Energy and
Petroleos de Venezuela S. A. ('PDVSA'), Venezuela's state oil company. PDVSA
estimates total original hydrocarbons in place are 320 billion barrels of oil
plus 90 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with approximately 40 billion
barrels of hydrocarbons produced through to the end of 2004.
The Catatumbo sub-basin has produced over 800 million barrels of oil to date,
according to the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy, from a number of
different fields to the north of and adjacent to the Caracoli Contract area.
Due to the high expectations the management of Global have for the Caracoli
Contract, Global and its technical staff have already extensively studied the
area, completed preliminary geologic analysis and selected the location of
seismic acquisition. Several mapped structures in the Contract area have the
same geologic history as the prolific adjacent oil fields. As a consequence, the
management of Global consider the Caracoli area to have a favourable potential
for major oil discoveries.
Global will own 100% of the Caracoli Contract subject only to an initial 8%
royalty, with the size of the royalty to be determined by future production
levels. The Contract duration is 30 years divided into an initial six year
exploration phase and a 24 year exploitation and production phase. Under the
terms of the Caracoli Contract, Global must acquire within 12 months 90
kilometres of 2D seismic and reprocess 210 kilometres of existing seismic.
Global can then elect if it so wishes to proceed to phase 2, also 12 months, and
drill one exploratory well and acquire limited amounts of additional seismic.
Phase 3 to 6, all optional and 12 months in length, require the drilling of an
exploratory well in each phase. Cashflow from Global's current five productive
contracts in Colombia is expected to fund the required work programme.
Commenting on the Caracoli Contract, Stephen Voss, Global's Managing Director,
said:
'Global is extremely excited to have been able to secure such high potential
acreage in what is independently considered to be the second most prolific
hydrocarbon area in the world, the Maracaibo basin.
The Caracoli Contract ranks amongst the most significant opportunity during the
Company's extensive operating history in Colombia by offering the potential for
major oil discoveries. The substantial analysis the Company has already
conducted has provided what the management believe to be an accurate, highly
compelling geologic model of the Caracoli Contract acreage which could have
significant reserve potential.
The Caracoli Contract adds further high potential exploration to Global's
balanced portfolio which also comprises production and more predictable
developmental drilling.'
For further information:
Global Energy Development PLC
Catherine Miles, director of Investor Relations +44 (0) 20 7763 7177
www.globalenergyplc.com
+44 (0) 7909918034
Notes to Editors:
Global has been listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange since
March 2002. The Company currently holds approximately 5.16 million acres through
eight contracts in Colombia and Peru, an exclusive Technical Evaluation
Agreement ('TEA') in Colombia and a concluded exclusive TEA in Panama which is
in the process of being converted into an exclusive contract. Global owns 100%
of all its contracts, with five of these contracts currently producing.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange |
