Houston-based PanAtlantic Petroleum announces big Romania off-shore gas find

“This is a very important discovery for PanAtlantic and our partners.” – CEO Dr. Robert Erlich

PanAtlantic Petroleum

HOUSTON – PanAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. announces the drilling conclusion of the Lira-1X exploration well and the discovery of a gas field in the Lira offshore structure, which is located at the Trident block (EX-30) in the Romanian offshore.

Exploration on the EX-30 block is conducted by Operator LUKOIL Overseas Atash BV (100-% subsidiary of PJSC LUKOIL) within the framework of the Concession Agreement with the Government of Romania of 2011.

“This is a very important discovery for PanAtlantic and our partners. Operator LUKOIL has done an outstanding job of drilling the well within financial estimates and without environmental or safety incident,” said Dr. Robert Erlich, president and CEO, said in a press release.

“We are pleased to be part of such an exciting new area of gas discovery.”

The Lira-1X well is located at a distance of about 170 km from the coast, where the depth of the sea is about 700 meters. The Trident block has an area of 1,006 km².

The well was drilled to a depth of 2,700 meters (8,858 feet) from the TransOcean Development Driller II. The well has been temporarily abandoned pending further evaluation of the Lira gas discovery.

Preliminary results indicate a minimum of 46 meters pay interval and a minimum 1 TCF of gas reserves.

Operations planned for 2016 include appraisal drilling near the Lira discovery well and the reprocessing of seismic data to confirm the size of the discovery and perform a more precise assessment of potential hydrocarbon reserves.

Currently PanAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. owns 18 per cent while LUKOIL’s share in the project is 72 per cent, and Societatea Nationale de Gaze Naturale Romgaz SA owns 10 per cent.