Max Petroleum has commenced drilling the BOR-3 appraisal well in the Borkyldakty Field. The total depth of the well will be approximately 1,800 metres, targeting Triassic reservoirs.

Blocks A & E

Max Petroleum acquired the exploration and production rights to the Blocks A&E Licence area in 2005, which includes two onshore blocks extending over 12,455 km2 in the highly prolific Pre-Caspian Basin in Western Kazakhstan. The Pre-Caspian Basin has produced some of the world's largest oil and gas discoveries, including the super-giant Tengiz, Kashagan, Karachaganak and Astrakhan fields, which range in size from seven to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent in recoverable reserves. The Basin also has extensive production from numerous shallow, 'post-salt' fields, with more than 100 post-salt fields discovered during the Soviet era, with an average mean field size of 34 million barrels of recoverable oil each.

Max Petroleum has acquired and interpreted approximately 5,000 km2 of exploratory 3D seismic data over Blocks A&E, generating an exciting portfolio of post-salt and pre-salt leads and prospects. The post-salt portfolio comprises nine drillable prospects estimated to contain unrisked mean recoverable resources of 214 mmbo. The pre-salt portfolio comprises 10 prospects and five leads, ranging in size from 100 to 600 mmboe of unrisked mean resource potential each, with aggregate unrisked mean resource potential in excess of 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent. In July 2010, the Group's competent person, Ryder Scott Company LP, estimated Blocks A&E's mean risked resource potential at 1,100 mmboe, providing independent validation of the work of Max Petroleum's technical team, as well as the Group's potential for making a major discovery.

The Group has one shallow drilling rig under contract is planning to add a second intermediate rig later in the fall of 2010. Max Petroleum intends to drill its remaining post-salt exploration prospect inventory by mid-2011, and is moving ahead with the planning and permitting to drill its first deep exploration well on Block E during 2011, either with a strategic partner or on a stand-alone basis, subject to available funding.

Max Petroleum has successfully drilled 23 wells to date, resulting in two post-salt discoveries in the Zhana Makat Field in September 2006 and the Borkyldakty Field in February 2010.

Tags: Max Petroleum Plc