Drilling of second exploration well passes half way mark on Manas Petroleum's Huday Nazar project
Baar, Switzerland, August 24th, 2009
Manas Petroleum (Symbol: MNAP -- OTC) is pleased to report further drilling progress of its second, deeper exploration well at the Huday Nazar SPC-1 (Soh license) Prospect by its Kyrgyz joint venture with South Petroleum Company (SPC)
An intermediate hole (12 1/4") has now been completed to a depth of 1228m as of August 21st, 2009. Drilling objectives are to test tertiary-aged (Palaeogene) clastics and carbonate reservoirs between 1680m and 1835m below ground level. Projected total depth of this well is 2400m below ground level. Pending successful drilling results, testing and completion of the well would be made following the completion of the Company's drilling program. The P50 mapped closure for the Huday Nazar Prospect is 6 square km. The Prospect was generated as a result of the processing of seismic shot in a recent 2D seismic program by SPC.
Analogue fields for the Huday Nazar are the North Rishtan (1 MMBO) and North Soh (13MMBO, 130 BCF). The Huday Nazar replaces the previously planned drilling of the smaller and shallower East Chongora Prospect which is also in the Soh License area. Acquisition of a total of 800 km of 2D seismic within the SPC licenses was completed as of late May 2009 and seismic processing is ongoing. Preparations by the joint venture partners are underway for a 2010 deep drilling program which is expected to commence in early 2010.
Manas Petroleum is an international oil and gas company, focusing on activities in South-Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South America. In Albania, Manas has developed a large exploration project with a total resource potential (P50) of 3 billion barrels (Gustavson 2008). Four blocks are now drill-ready. The council of ministers recently ratified the production-sharing contracts on two blocks to DWM Petroleum, a subsidiary of Manas. A 51-101 compliant estimate is now being prepared. In Kyrgyzstan, Manas has signed a $ 54 million USD farm-out agreement with Santos LTD ADR, covering it 1.2 billion barrels in place (Scott Pickford, 2005). Drilling is currently underway. Manas' development of its license in Tajikistan is now covered by an option farm-in agreement with Santos LTD ADR, where a seismic program has been recently completed. In Chile, Manas and its U.S. partner, IPR, farmed out a large natural gas exploration project to a consortium of local operators. In Mongolia, the Company recently completed a phase 1 geological program, defining structural trends with potential petroleum accumulations. A seismic program is currently underway. Details of these projects are located on the Company's website: www.manaspete.com .
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are projections of events, revenues, income, future economic performance or management's plans and objectives for future operations. In some cases you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of terminology such as "may", "should", "anticipates", "believes", "expects", "intends", "forecasts", "plans", "future", "strategy", or words of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements about the company's expectations that it expects the 2010 deep drilling program to commence early in 2010. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risks inherent in our industry, the poor capital markets and other risks identified by us in our periodic filings on EDGAR (which can be viewed at www.sec.gov). Any of these risks could cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
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Contact:
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CH-6341 Baar
Switzerland
Phone: +41 44 718 1030
Fax: +41 44 718 1039
Email: info@manaspete.com
Web: www.manaspete.com