Ascent Resources, the European focused oil and gas exploration and production company farmed out a 50% interest in the Cento and Bastiglia permits in the Po Valley, Italy.
The agreement with Otto Energy, who join Deltana Energy as the second farm-in partner will jointly contribute towards the back costs of seismic data and will pay 100% of the first exploration well costs and 100% of the second exploration well cost if the first well finds commercial amounts of gas.
The first exploration well is scheduled to be drilled in the second half of 2008, targeting the Gazzata prospect which has a estimated recoverable reserve in excess of 100 billion cubic feet of gas.
The agreement is inline with Ascent's strategy of securing quality exploration acreage at an early stage and then progressively bringing in partners as the project advances. Italy's Po Valley is a prolific region for commercial gas discoveries.
Ascent Managing Director Jeremy Eng said, 'The latest phase of exploration in the Po Valley uses state-of-the art techniques in seismic processing, which still further improves the already impressive success rate in gas exploration in the region. The Cento and Bastiglia permits, which are among the largest in the area, have multiple exploration targets as well as established infrastructure
close to hand. This farm-out again confirms the strength of Ascent's strategy and demonstrates the depth of the Company's portfolio of European projects.'