Ascent Finally Starts Slovene Exports

UK upstream firm Ascent finally began exporting gas from its Petisovci field in Slovenia to the INA-operated processing plant at Molve, Croatia, it said November 3. It had hoped to achieve this milestone four months earlier, by the end of June but was held up by a series of technical and bureaucratic matters. The contract is for a minimum of one year and the price is linked to the Central European Gas Hub, focused on flows through Austria.

"We are very happy to be finally exporting gas production from the Petisovci field, we thank all of our employees, investors and advisers who have contributed to the project over the years," said CEO Colin Hutchinson.

Ascent has been involved with the Petisovci concession for over ten years and around €45mn ($52.4mn) has been invested to bring the project to this stage, it said. Although the contract is for one year only initially, the field has P50 reserves of 13bn m³ and the supply to INA is expected to fully utilise all production from Pg-10 and Pg-11A. The company's focus for the next year turns to planning for the re-entry and recompletion of suitable existing wells. Its revenues come from hydrocarbon sales within Slovenia.

William Powell