Maple Energy has completed drilling to the bottom of the Cretaceous Period formation sands, in its first well in the Santa Rosa oil prospect in Block 31-E in Peru.

Preliminary drilling results reflected that there were no oil shows in these sands and there were minor gas shows that do not appear to be commercial. The Company plans to continue drilling operations to target the Paleozoic Period formations, which is the other prospective interval in this well. It is expected that Maple will complete drilling the second target interval and achieve total depth of the well of 14,750 feet in approximately two weeks, and will report on the results of the Paleozoic Period formations as soon as information is available.

Rex Canon, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "While we are disappointed that there were no oil shows in the Cretaceous Period formation sands, we will continue drilling the Santa Rosa 1X Well as planned and are hopeful there may be commercial quantities of hydrocarbons in the Paleozoic formations."

Tags: Maple Energy plc