|
QUARTERLY REPORT
FOR PERIOD ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2009 |
|
Company |
Range Resources LTD
|
|
| TIDM |
RRL |
| Headline |
Quarterly Report for Period
Ending 31 December 2009 |
| Released |
08:55 29-Jan-2010 |
| Number |
00852-E6CF |
|
29 January 2010 QUARTERLY REPORT FOR
PERIOD ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2009
The Board is pleased to provide the
following commentary to be read in conjunction with the Appendix 5B,
which is available on the website.
Puntland
Following the conclusion of
negotiations between Range Resources Limited's (" Range" or "the
Company") Joint Venture Partner, Africa Oil Corp. ("Africa Oil") and the
Government of the Puntland State of Somalia, Range, Africa Oil and the
Puntland State of Somalia have entered into amending agreements
modifying the terms of the existing Production Sharing Agreements ("PSAs")
made in respect of the Dharoor and Nugaal Valley Exploration Areas. The
revised agreements were signed by the parties in Garowe, Puntland,
subsequently approved by the Cabinet of the Puntland Government and
ratified by the Parliament of the Puntland State of Somalia during
December 2009.
With the conclusion of the negotiations
and the execution of the amending agreements, the PSAs, as amended, now
provide for initial exploration periods in respect of both blocks that
have been extended from 36 months to 48 months with a revised expiry of
17 January 2011. In addition, the terms of the exploration programs have
been amended so that Africa Oil can, at its option, drill one
exploratory well in each of the Nugaal and Dharoor Valley Exploration
Areas, or two exploratory wells in the Dharoor Valley, during the
initial exploration period. In consideration of the extension of the
exploration period, the parties agreed to voluntarily relinquish 25% of
the original agreement area on or before 17 January 2010.
Onshore Puntland Interest: Range - 20%
Africa Oil Corp - 65%
Lion Energy Inc - 15%
The successful conclusions of these
negotiations now paves the way for Africa Oil to commence operations and
drilling of the first exploration well in Puntland for over 16 years.
Following the successful completion of
negotiations regarding the onshore licences and previous technical
presentations to the Government on the proposed offshore areas of
interest, Range will look to continue negotiations regarding the
formalisation of a new PSA with respect to the exploration and
development of off shore Puntland in early 2010.
Georgia
Subsequent to completion of the Heads
of Agreement, between Range Resources and Strait Oil & Gas (UK) Ltd to
complete Phase II of the PSA, approval was obtained from the Georgian
Government for The Geophysical Institute of Israel to commence the 2D
seismic operation on both Block VIa and Block VIb.
Mobilisation of the vibrosis equipment
was completed in October and after independent testing and technical
audit the seismic operation started in November 2009.The operation has
proceeded well and to date with over 150 kms of seismic acquisition
having been completed despite some recent severe weather conditions. It
is predicted that completion of this operation will occur sometime in
end of February / early March of 2010.
The crew has been extremely diligent
and the equipment is being maintained to manufacturer's specification
and contract requirement. To date the seismic team has not had any
incident of damage to buildings or the environment during the seismic
acquisition and are continually monitoring for any environmental damage.
Data quality has been consistently good
to very good and the highly structured overthrust features, that will
require competent data processing, are expected to provide many
potentially viable structures as drilling targets.
An assessment of previously drilled gas
wells is currently being completed and will be followed by an
independent review.
Figure 1 - Planned Seismic Program on
Blocks VIa and VIb - please refer to the website.
Figure 2 - Seismic Vehicle - please
refer to the website.
Texas
During the quarter drilling was
completed on the Smith #1 well and the Company announced that testing
confirmed a commercial discovery.
The Smith #1 was drilled and logged to
a depth of 13,975' (4,260m). Based on open-hole logs indicating
approximately 120' (37m) of net pay thickness in three zones with no
water, 4 ½" production casing was run to TD and cemented in place. After
an interval of just 20' (6.2m) in one of the three zones was perforated,
bottom-hole pressure was estimated to be approximately 11,650 psi.
The well was unloaded on a 6/64" choke
until gas reached the surface, and subsequently opened to a 10/64" choke
for 5 hours to clean the well up. Despite the small choke size, the
average rate during this period was 2.4 million cubic feet of gas and
191 barrels of oil per day with no water. Final flowing casing pressure
was 6,354 psi.
The well was shut in with a final
measured casing pressure of over 9,000 psi. The Smith well remains shut
in awaiting production facilities and pipeline connection. Current plans
are to perform additional testing of the well into the sales line and
finish the completion at that time.
Also during the quarter, the well
partners (Range - 25%) purchased an additional 560 acres in the area
bringing the total leased area in the prospect to 1,680 acres.
Well Details
Name of well Smith #1
Spud date 4 September 2009
Total depth 13,975 ft (4,260m)
RRS working interest 25%
Figure 3: Unit Texas Rig #35 drilling
ahead on Smith #1 well - please refer to the website.
Corporate
The Company's Annual General Meeting
was held on 20 November 2009 with all resolutions being passed.
Subsequent to quarter end, the Company
announced a A$3.5m placement to sophisticated and institutional
investors in both Australia and the United Kingdom, in conjunction with
a 1:4 rights issue to existing shareholders, both at $0.05, raising
approximately A$11m.
By order of the Board
Peter Landau
Executive Director
Contacts
Range Resources
Peter Landau T
el: +61 8 9488 5220
Em:
plandau@rangeresources.com.au
Australia London PPR Conduit PR David
Tasker Jonathan Charles Tel: +61 (8) 9388 0944 Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7429
6666 Em: david.tasker@ppr.com.au Em: jonathan@conduitpr.com RFC
Corporate Finance (Nominated Advisor) Old Park Lane Capital (Broker)
Stuart Laing Michael Parnes Tel: +61 (8) 9480 2500 Tel: +44 (0) 207 493
8188 Range Background Range Resources is a dual listed (ASX: RRS; AIM:
RRL) oil & gas exploration company with oil & gas interests in the
frontier state of Puntland, Somalia, the Republic of Georgia and Texas,
USA. * In Puntland, Range holds a 20% working interest in two licences
encompassing the highly prospective Dharoor and Nugaal valleys with
plans to drill two wells (TSXV:AOI) - 65% Operator, in 2010. * In the
Republic of Georgia, Range holds a 50% farm-in interest in onshore
blocks VIa and VIb, covering approx. 7,000sq.km. Currently, Range is
undertaking a 350km 2D seismic program. * Range holds a 25% interest in
the North Chapman Ranch project, Texas. The project area encompasses
approximately 1,680 acres in one of the most prolific oil and gas
producing trends in the State of Texas. Drilling of the first well has
resulted in a commercial discovery with production due to commence Feb
2010. The references to gas flow rates with regards to Texas have been
provided by the operator of the well, Crest Resources Inc., reviewed by
Mark Patterson a petroleum geologist director and partner of Texas
Energy Advisers LLC (who act as consultants to Range), who has over 25
years of relevant experience in the oil & gas sector, and found to be
consistent with the SPE Guidelines.
"END"
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