CALGARY, ALBERTA — (Marketwire) — 06/27/12 — 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 advise that KUB-Gas LLC (“KUB-Gas”), a subsidiary in which KOV has a 70% effective ownership interest, has entered into a contract with Burova Kompaniya Ukrburservice LLC (“Ukrburservice”) under which Ukrburservice will provide their Rig #1 to drill the Makeevskoye-16 (“M-16”) well.
The Ukrburservice Rig#1 is a 2,000 horsepower National Oilwell Varco (“NOV”) drilling rig manufactured in Canada in 2010. It has a lifting capacity of 450 metric tonnes and a depth rating of 7,000 metres. The projected depth of the M-16 well is 3,850 metres. This deep test well will evaluate stacked potential reservoir targets in Moscovian, Bashkirian and Serpukhovian aged rocks. Rig moving operations will commence immediately. The M-16 well is expected to spud in mid-August 2012 and drilling time is estimated at 60 days.
The contracting of the Ukrburservice Rig#1 will allow for an acceleration of the 2012 drilling program. The KUB-Gas owned NOV rig, which was manufactured in Canada in 2007 with a lifting capacity of 200 metric tonnes and a depth rating of 3,050 metres, is currently being moved from the North Makeevskoye-1 (“NM-1”) location to the Makeevskoye-20 (“M-20”) location. NM-1 reached a total depth (“TD”) of 2,500 metres in mid-June and was cased to TD after log and drilling information indicated 4 potential hydrocarbon-bearing zones. Drilling of the M-20 well is expected to commence in mid-July with a projected TD of 2,000 metres. The well will target an amplitude anomaly defined by seismic and is a follow-up delineation well to the successful M-19 and M-21 wells.
Jock Graham, Executive Vice President of the Company says: “The contracting of a second drilling rig to accelerate the 2012 drilling program is a reflection of the Company–s optimism regarding the potential upside in our business in Ukraine. In particular the M-16 well, with a target depth of 3,850 metres, will be the deepest well drilled to date by KUB-Gas. The M-16 well will be not only targeting formations that are currently producing within the Makeevskoye field but will also target deeper formations, which have not been produced from in the Company–s license areas, potentially opening up new opportunities for 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 working interests in two production sharing agreements which gives the Company the right to explore for and produce oil and natural gas from Block L and Block M. KOV owns a 90% working interest in Block L, a 1,123 square kilometre area covering onshore and offshore areas in northern Brunei and a 36% working interest in Block M, a 1,505 square kilometre area onshore in southern 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.
The main shareholder of the Company, Kulczyk Investments S.A. owns approximately 44% of the issued common shares. Kulczyk Investments S.A. is 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 contains forward-looking statements made as of the date of this announcement with respect to future activities of KUB-Gas and related to its licence areas in Ukraine and to certain wells drilled within those licence areas that are not 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