CALGARY, ALBERTA — (Marketwire) — 12/07/12 — Kulczyk Oil Ventures Inc. (WARSAW: KOV) (“Kulczyk Oil”, “KOV” or the “Company”), an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company, is pleased to announce that the Makeevskoye-16 (“M-16”) exploration well in Ukraine, has been cased to its total depth (“TD”) of 4,300 metres after encountering seven potential gas-bearing reservoirs. The M-16 well is operated by KUB-Gas LLC (“KUB-Gas”), a partially-owned subsidiary in which KOV has a 70% effective ownership interest and is the deepest well drilled to date by KUB-Gas.
Makeevskoye-16 Exploration Well
The M-16 exploration well, located 6.7 kilometres to the northwest of the Makeevskoye-21 gas discovery drilled in the first quarter of 2012, commenced drilling in early August as part of the accelerated 2012 drilling program. It reached its revised total depth of 4,300 metres on 28 November 2012 and has now been cased to TD. Completion and testing of the well will occur in the first quarter of 2013.
The M-16 well is the deepest well drilled by the Company to date, having previously never drilled deeper than 3,200 metres. The well, which targeted a prospect with multiple potential reservoir units in sediments of Carboniferous age, is the first well drilled by KOV through the complete Serpukhovian section and into a reservoir section of Visean age. The well ultimately penetrated approximately 83 metres of unconfirmed Visean section.
The well encountered seven zones which appear to be gas-bearing based upon drilling information and interpretation of wireline logs. Potential gas zones were encountered in the Moscovian, Bashkirian and Serpukhovian sections of the well. KOV believes that there could be gas in the Lower Serpukhovian section but log quality was poor through the lower section due to worsening hole conditions at depth. As a result, log determination of the presence of gas was impossible in this deepest section of the well. Of particular interest is the Bashkirian R30c zone at a depth of 2,503 metres which appears to be gas-bearing in the M-16 well and is quite extensive, being present in both the Olgovskoye and Makeevskoye Licenses.
Jock Graham, Executive Vice President of the Company says:
“While we will have to wait to see how the testing of the well progresses, we are very pleased with the results of the M-16 well thus far. Operationally, drilling our first well to 4,300 metres without any material problems is an accomplishment our team is justifiably proud of. Of course to have encountered almost 22 metres of confirmed potential gas-bearing zones, with the possibility of an additional 49 metres in the Serpukhovian, depending on log interpretation, is very exciting. We believe that success here will open up new opportunities and targets elsewhere in our licenses, providing an additional path to continued reserve and production growth.”
About Kulczyk Oil
Kulczyk Oil is an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ukraine, Brunei and Syria and with a risk profile ranging from exploration in Brunei and Syria to production and development in Ukraine. The common shares of the Company trade on the Warsaw Stock Exchange under trading symbol “KOV”.
In Ukraine, KOV owns an effective 70% interest in KUB-Gas LLC. The assets of KUB-Gas consist of 100% interests in five licences near to the City of Lugansk in the northeast part of Ukraine. Four of the licences are gas producing.
In Brunei, KOV owns a 90% working interest in a production sharing agreement which gives the Company the right to explore for and produce oil and natural gas from Block L, a 1,123 square kilometre area covering onshore and offshore areas in northern Brunei.
In Syria, KOV holds a participating interest of 50% in the Syria Block 9 production sharing contract which provides the right to explore for and, upon the satisfaction of certain conditions, to produce oil and gas from Block 9, a 10,032 square kilometre area in northwest Syria. The Company has an agreement to assign a 5% ownership interest to a third party which is subject to the approval of Syrian authorities, and which, if approved, would leave the Company with a remaining effective interest of 45% in Syria Block 9. KOV declared force majeure, with respect to its operations in Syria, in July 2012.
The main shareholder of the Company is Kulczyk Investments S.A., an international investment house founded by Polish businessman Dr. Jan Kulczyk.
For further information, please refer to the Kulczyk Oil website ().
Translation: This news release has been translated into Polish from the English original.
Forward-looking Statements This release may contain forward-looking statements made as of the date of this announcement with respect to future activities of KUB-Gas and related to its five licence areas in Ukraine and to certain wells drilled or seismic activities undertaken within those licence areas that either are not or may not be historical facts. Although the Company believes that its expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date hereof, any potential results suggested by such statements involve risk and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Various factors that could impair or prevent the Company from completing the expected activities on its projects include that the Company–s projects experience technical and mechanical problems, there are changes in product prices, failure to obtain regulatory approvals, the state of the national or international monetary, oil and gas, financial, political and economic markets in the jurisdictions where the Company operates and other risks not anticipated by the Company or disclosed in the Company–s published material. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statement. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in this announcement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this announcement, unless required by law.
Contacts:
Kulczyk Oil Ventures Inc. – Canada
Norman W. Holton
Vice Chairman
+1-403-264-8877
Kulczyk Oil Ventures Inc. – Poland
Jakub J. Korczak
Vice President Investor Relations & Managing Director CEE
+48 22 414 21 00