Vangold Resources Enters Into Exclusive Petroleum Exploration Production Sharing Agreement in Armenia.
Vangold Resources Ltd. has entered into an agreement to participate in a Production Sharing Agreement (the "PSA") between the Ministry of Energy of Armenia and Blackstairs Energy plc ("Blackstairs"). Vangold will participate as to a 50% working interest in Blocks 4, 5 and 6, which cover an area of 13,775 sq. km (over 3.4 million acres) in central and southern Armenia. Under the PSA, the term of exploration is five years, which may be extended (subject to an agreed work program) by two additional periods, each of two years. The total financial commitment for five years is US$2.4M of which Vangold will expend US$1.2M. The Blocks are governed exclusively by this PSA, which was effective as of April 27th 2007. With respect to Block 6, Blackstairs and Vangold have yet to complete the exact terms of Vangold's acquisition as to a half interest partner.
Dal Brynelsen, President and CEO of Vangold states: "I am very pleased with this acquisition on two fronts. These particular concessions encompass half of Armenia and are adjacent to Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia, all countries with very extensive oil and gas resources. We believe a similar potential exists in southern Armenia. We are very pleased to have aligned ourselves with executive oil and gas experts from Blackstairs who have extensive exploration and development experience in both Armenia and in east Africa. We look forward to working closely with Mr. Sheehan and his crew not only in Armenia but also in Rwanda and Kenya. The addition of the Armenian sedimentary basin brings Vangold's oil and gas concessions in east Africa and Armenia to a total of 45,200 sq kms."
Blackstairs Energy Plc
Blackstairs, a private company based in Dublin, Ireland, will operate the Blocks under the terms of the PSA. An office is being opened in Yerevan, an experienced General Manager, Mr. Tim Papworth, has been appointed, and the recruitment of key technical and commercial staff is underway. Mr. Papworth is a UK-based petroleum exploration consultant with over thirty years of experience in areas including the North Sea, onshore UK, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Malaysia, Gabon, Namibia, Georgia and Russia. He has worked intermittently in Armenia since 1994.
The operation in Armenia will also be supported by other members of the Blackstairs' team of experienced geological, geophysical and petroleum engineering staff including the Managing Director of Blackstairs Mr. Gerard Sheehan, B.Sc., M.Sc., FRAS and Mr. John D. Scott, B.Sc., M.Sc. Mr. Sheehan is a former Exploration Manager and New Ventures Manager for Tullow Oil plc. Throughout his nineteen years with Tullow, Mr. Sheehan worked on a variety of petroleum projects in Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and Eastern and Central Europe. Mr. Sheehan resigned from Tullow in July 2006 to concentrate on the development of Blackstairs. Mr. Sheehan is member of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Mr. Scott is a non-executive director of Blackstairs and is a petroleum engineer with over 35 years experience in the oil sector. His extensive career includes the position of Petroleum Engineering Manager for Tullow Oil plc where he assumed responsibility for all of Tullow's field development projects in the UK, Syria, Pakistan, Bangladesh and across Africa. Mr. Scott was also the Engineering Manager for Ranger Oil from 1986 to 1994. Mr. Scott is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Society of Professional Well Log Analysts and an Associate of International Petroleum Negotiators.
As reported by Vangold on March 1, 2007, Tullow had announced that its Kingfisher-1 exploration well in Block 3A in Uganda (50% Tullow: 50% Heritage Oil) was flowing 13,893 bopd in total. This Ugandan discovery is part of the Albertine Graben which may extend into Vangold's White Elephant concession which is 7,208 sq kms in Rwanda, not 2,708 as previously announced by Vangold. Vangold is very pleased that Messrs. Sheehan and Scott will also provide their extensive expertise to the geological evaluation of this area.
Oil Work Program Armenia
Blackstairs and Vangold will undertake a comprehensive technical program. The objective of these programs is to elucidate the petroleum system, high-grade the most prospective areas, and identify prospects which may be considered for additional delineation or drilling.
The projects identified for the initial phase of exploration are:
"¢ Collation and re-assessment of the existing technical database
"¢ Reprocessing of suitable geophysical data, including seismic data
"¢ Satellite Imagery interpretation
"¢ Gravity Surveys
"¢ Geochemical surveys
"¢ Field geological mapping
"¢ Acquisition of at least 170 km. of 2D seismic
Vangold Resources News
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