Elixir Petroleum Limited advises that following receipt of the approval of the French government, Elixir has completed the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of East Paris Petroleum Development Limited ('EPPDL'). EPPDL is the 100% interest holder and operator of the Moselle Permit, a 5,360 km2 oil and gas exploration permit located in the East Paris Basin, onshore north-eastern France.

The Moselle Permit is the largest single exploration block onshore France and was awarded in January 2009 to EPPDL for an initial five year term. The Permit is prospective for a number of different play types including conventional oil and gas, unconventional gas (i.e. tight sand and shale gas) and coal bed methane.

Elixir has already commenced exploration activities on the Permit with the acquisition and reprocessing of over 500 kilometres of 2D seismic data and the analysis of key borehole data, including wireline and core data from 105 existing wells located in, and adjacent to, the Permit area. The analytical programme is directed towards the generation of initial in-place hydrocarbon resource estimates for the Permit and the prioritisation of subsequent work programmes (including identifying potential drilling targets).

Elixir's Managing Director, Andrew Ross said,'We are very pleased to have finalised the acquisition of the Moselle Permit, our first onshore European project. We are extremely encouraged from the results of our initial data review and look forward to updating the market with further information on the prospectivity of the Moselle Permit in the coming months.'

Tags: Elixir Petroleum Limited