GRAND CAYMAN, CAYMAN ISLANDS — (Marketwired) — 11/14/14 — Tethys Petroleum Limited (“Tethys” or the “Company”) (TSX: TPL)(LSE: TPL) today announced its Third Quarter 2014 Financial Results and activity update.
Financial Highlights
Denise Lay, Director and Chief Financial Officer of Tethys, commented; “Q3 has seen consistency of production over Q2 and reductions in operating, business development and G&A costs. Cost reduction is a key focus for the Company and a comprehensive plan of cost reductions, which will be phased, has already commenced, the results of which will be realised over the coming months. This, combined with an anticipated step change in revenue when we bring on stream additional gas production in Q1 2015, should be reflected in the bottom line results in Q1 and Q2 of 2015.”
Operations Highlights
Kazakhstan
Shallow Gas Program Update
All the key items within the next phase of the gas development program are on track and it is expected that the additional production will be ready to be brought on stream in January 2015. This includes the installation of a gas dehydration unit and construction of shallow gas tie-ins for the new gas wells to hook up the previously drilled gas wells.
When this next phase of the gas development programme is brought on stream it is anticipated that this will realise an approximately three-fold increase in gas production. Negotiations continue for a new gas sales contract which the Company expects to sign before year end, and with a significantly higher sales price than the current contract.
SinoHan Transaction Update
In October 2015 Tethys announced that it had agreed with SinoHan Oil and Gas Investment 6 B.V. (“SinoHan”), part of HanHong, a Beijing, PRC based private equity fund, to extend the one-year longstop date for completing the sale by a period of six months, until 1 May 2015. This extension keeps the current agreement in place while discussions continue with the Kazakh State.
This deal is based upon USD75 million for the 50% (+ 1 share) interest.
Once this transaction has completed the new partnership can then move forward quickly to further develop the shallow gas resource where the Company has identified a number of new attractive prospects, drill a horizontal well on the Doris field to increase production, and also move ahead with drilling the exciting deeper Klymene exploration prospect.
Tajikistan
The seismic acquisition programme planned to identify the location of the first deep well to be drilled commenced in the third quarter. This new wide line 2D survey is specially designed to image the deep targets described in the Independent Resource Report and consists of a first phase of 826 kms with an option for an additional 200 kms, all to be acquired within 2014 and the first three quarters of 2015. As well as 2D acquisition and processing, a concurrent low cost passive seismic survey is planned and a Magnetotellurics survey is also being acquired now along the dip lines.
Processing of data from the survey will be concurrent so interpretation and mapping will be underway before the end of this year. This data set will assist in the identification of the best possible location to spud the first deep well by the end of 2015.
The partnership of Tethys, Total and CNPC, together as Bokhtar Operating Company, are looking forward to the results of this survey with all partners keen to move forward with the drilling of the first deep well on this very prospective acreage.
The full Quarterly Results together with Management–s Discussion and Analysis have been filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Copies of the filed documents may be obtained via SEDAR at or on Tethys– website at . The summary financial statements are attached to this press release. Investors are advised to review the Third Quarterly 2014 financial statements and the notes to those financial statements in detail as they contain important information.
The Company–s Third Quarter 2014 financial statements are prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”).
Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production activities in Central Asia and the Caspian Region. This highly prolific oil and gas area is rapidly developing and Tethys believes that significant potential exists in both exploration and in discovered deposits.
This press release contains “forward-looking information.” Such forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain assumptions. See our Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2013 for a description of risks and uncertainties relevant to our business, including our exploration activities. The “forward looking statements” contained herein speak only as of the date of this press release and, unless required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise such information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Tethys Investor Relations: Tethys Petroleum Limited
Sabin Rossi
Vice President Investor Relations
Media / IR Enquiries
Asia Pacific
Quam IR:
Anita Wan
+852 2217 2999
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