Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA ("the Company"), listed on the OTC in Oslo (ticker NOIL), hereby provides an update on its NCS drilling activity. Following a recent private placement, the Company is now owned 84,2% by DNO ASA.
PL305: The Company was informed by Dolphin on 28 June 2007 that the rig Bredford Dolphin has been given an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA). Following the AoC, the Company currently performs its own acceptance test of the rig according to the rules and regulations. Upon such acceptance and the PSA's approval of the Application for Consent, the Company looks forward to spud the 24/9-8 well on the Lie prospect in PL305. This will be the start of an active drilling schedule where the Company has the first, third and fifth drilling slot and a total contracted period enabling the Company to drill up to 8 wells with Bredford Dolphin in the coming three year period.
PL229: The Goliat North exploration well was planned to be drilled towards the end of this year. A new data acquisition program in the license has been agreed and the Management Committee has by majority vote therefore decided to postpone the drilling of the well. The new data to be acquired, when combined with the existing database in the license, will address and rank the total prospectivity and help to prioritise the drilling sequence at a later stage to unlock the significant exploration potential in the block.
PL029B/PL265: The plan was to spud the Freke well in PL029B with the West Epsilon rig at the end of June. The plan now is to spud the Ragnarock well in PL265 when the rig becomes available after the ongoing well has been plugged and abandoned. The Freke well has been postponed and we will provide information when a decision has been made in the Management Committee.
Commenting on the drilling plans, Roar Tessem, Managing Director, says that "this is an exiting time for the Company, we start our own drilling operations shortly and we will also participate in a number of partner-operated wells targeting considerable resources in the months ahead".
DNO ASA
3 July 2007
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Contact:
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Media: |
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Helge Eide, MD DNO ASA |
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+47 23 23 84 80 |
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Roar Tessem, Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA |
Telephone: |
+ 47 23 23 84 80 |
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Ketil Jørgensen, Crux Communication (Norway) |
Telephone |
+47 930 36 866 |
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Ben Willey, Buchanan Communications (UK) |
Telephone:
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+44 207 466 5000 |
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Investor Relations: |
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Haakon Sandborg, CFO DNO ASA |
Telephone: |
+47 23 23 84 80 |
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Robert Arnott, Advisor (UK) |
Telephone |
+44 207 839 7764 |