Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC declares on behalf of its wholly owned Romanian subsidiary and its joint venture partner, SNGN Romgaz S.A., that Vicsani-1, spudded on 13th July, has been successfully completed as a gas production well.

The well tested a Sarmatian sand in the interval 433m to 445.5m, and flowed gas at rates up to 3.1 million scf/d (84 kNm3/d) at a wellhead pressure of 21bar. Production logs showed that the gross gas column of 12.5m contributed to flow. It is expected that regulatory approvals will be obtained to tie-in both Vicsani-1, at a rate of 1.5 million scf/d, and the recently drilled Fratauti-2 to the Bilca Gas Plant in November 2008.

Recent severe weather and flooding in the region has severely damaged roads and bridges including the flowline from Fratauti-1 to the Bilca Gas Plant which will be used to produce the two wells. The flowline has now been repaired with production re-commencing within 5 days of rupture. The replacement of eroded soil and strengthening of the flowline will continue for some weeks.

Percentage interests in the Vicsani-1 and Fratauti-2 wells and the Bilca gas project are: Aurelian (operator) 62.5%, Romgaz 37.5%.

Vicsani-1 was the second of Aurelian's four-well drilling programme. The third, Lilieci-1, is expected to spud during the week of 18th August. This is a deeper Sarmatian test well with a planned total depth of 2,890m and is located in the northeast of the Bacau concession, with the Roman-Secueni gas field, which has produced over 850 Bscf from the same reservoir, just 7 km to the north across the block boundary. The well is expected to take 85 days to drill and test. Results are expected to be available in November.

Michael Seymour, Aurelian's Managing Director, commented, "Our Romanian drilling campaign this year of four wells back-to-back has got off to the perfect start with the first two establishing commercial gas and expected to be on production during the fourth quarter of this year. With compression currently being installed to boost the production from the first three fields, which have already been in production for two years, we can expect that, by the end of the year, production rates will be substantially higher than a year ago.

The next six months will be an exciting time for Aurelian when we will be drilling the third and fourth wells of our campaign, Lilieci-1 and Voitinel-1 respectively, which represent much larger prospects."

Tags: Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC, SNGN Romgaz S.A.