Ascent Resources Confirms Negotiations on Petisovci Farm Out

Ascent Resources plc has confirmed it is in negotiations with a number of parties regarding a farm out of its Petisovci tight gas project in Slovenia.

Ascent was responding to media reports on Thursday that Nafta Industrija Srbije AD, the Serbian oil and gas company controlled by OAO Gazprom Neft, was close to finalizing an agreement to take a stake in the project.

Straddling the Hungary/Slovenia border, the Petisovci prospect contains three depleted shallow conventional oil and gas fields with estimates of gas-in-place exceeding 500 Bcf. 

Ascent said it hopes to start production from Petisovci in 2013 having carried out "successful" hydraulic fracturing at two wells at the block last year.

The company commented there can be no guarantee an agreement will be reached and would make further announcements, if appropriate, in due course.

NIS has been expanding in recent years and has plans to explore for unconventional gas in Bulgaria and Romania amongst exploration efforts targeted at ten European countries.

“NIS plans to use two development options: buying stakes in projects and smaller companies, and creating joint companies with big players in the region,” the Novi Sad-based company said, which plans to triple output to 5 million tons of oil equivalent by 2020.

NIS and Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. have signed a Letter of Intent for the acquisition by NIS of an interest in producing the Algyö Play within Falcon’s Makó production license in Hungary and expects to drill the first of three unconventional gas exploration wells by the end of this year 2012, with the second and third wells expected to be drilled in early 2013.

NIS also has an agreement with Austrian oil and gas producer Rohoel-Aufsuchungs to jointly develop the Kiskunhalas block in South Hungary. It will also bid in a Croatian exploration tender.