15 Jul 2008 07:00
15 July 2008
OILEX STRENGTHENS MANAGEMENT TEAM AS INTERNATIONAL DRILLING PROGRAMS GATHER MOMENTUM
FORMER BHP BILLITON & WOODSIDE EXECUTIVES APPOINTED Oilex Limited is pleased to announce the recent appointment of two highly experienced international resource company executives, Mr Ben Clube as Chief Finance and Commercial Officer and Mr Kim Morrison as Business Development Manager, further strengthening its accomplished management and technical team.
Ben Clube brings a depth of commercial international oil and gas expertise tothe Oilex group, having spent the past 15 years at BHP Billiton Petroleum in avariety of senior management roles, including Vice President of Finance andPlanning in Houston, London and Perth. A Chartered Accountant, he holds aBachelor of Science with Honours in Geology from the University of Edinburghand previously worked as Audit Manager at Price Waterhouse Coopers in London.Kim Morrison joined Oilex in May as Business Development Manager withresponsibility for growing Oilex's portfolio of assets in the countries aroundthe Indian Ocean rim. He has more than 23 years of wide ranging experience inSoutheast and South Asia, North Africa, North America and Australasia invarious senior explorationist roles with Woodside Energy, Shell Internationaland Marathon Oil Company.The appointment of Mr Clube and Mr Morrison follows a number of recent highprofile appointments to the Oilex technical team, including Mr Paul Senycia asExploration Manager (formally Head of Exploration at Woodside Energy for 14years); Mr John Lamberto as Chief Geophysicist (25 years experience at LASMO,Ampol Exploration, Mobil, OMV International and BHP Billiton); and Mr PeteBekkers as Senior Explorationist (previously Woodside Energy and Santos Ltd).Commenting on the appointments, Oilex's Managing Director, Dr Bruce McCarthy,said: "We are delighted to welcome Ben and Kim to our team at this veryexciting time in Oilex's development. Ben brings a depth of internationalcommercial expertise that will be invaluable to the Company as we execute ouraggressive exploration and development plans in Oman, India and Indonesia.
"Kim brings a broad knowledge and experience of basins in our region of interest that will be fundamental to the growth of our asset portfolio," Dr McCarthy continued.
Oilex is pursuing an aggressive 15-17 well work program during 2008, withapproximately 12 wells scheduled for the second half of the year focused on thedevelopment of the Company's Cambay (India) and Pendalian (Indonesia) fieldsand achieving first oil production.Yours sincerely,B. H. McCarthyManaging Director
For further information, please contact:
Mareena Weston, Read Corporate Tel. +61 8 9388 1474 (Western Australia) Archie Berens, Director Pelham Public Relations Tel. +44 20 7743 6679 (United Kingdom)
RFC Corporate Finance Ltd acts as Oilex's Nominated Adviser, Contact Stuart Laing +618 9480 2506
The information in this report has been compiled by the Managing Director ofOilex Ltd, Bruce McCarthy B.Sc. Hons. PhD (Geology) who has over 29yearsexperience in petroleum geologyand Ray Barnes, B.Sc. Hons.the TechnicalDirector of Oilex Ltdwho has over 35 years experience in petroleum geology andis a member of the AAPG & EAGE. Estimates ofoil-in-place arereported inaccordance with the standard definitions set out by the Society of PetroleumEngineers, further information on which is available at www.spe.org.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION - OILEX LTD
Oilex Ltd is an Australian-based oil and gas company with a 17 well work program for 2008 underway over a diverse international portfolio. Oilex is focused on the development of its Cambay (India) and Pendalian (Indonesia) fields, with the core objective of achieving first production in Q4 2008.
2008 is a landmark year for the Company with the potential for significant oil and gas projects to be brought on-stream, and a major exploration program already underway to create a substantial hydrocarbon reserve base.
The Cambay Field in India, recently reported its first oil flow from a deeperexploration objective that enhances the prospectivity of the block apart fromthe two known reservoirs, the Oligocene ("OS-II") and the Eocene ("EP-IV").Collectively, these two reservoirs have a current best estimate resource of 49million barrels of oil in place and 300 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas inplace.Following the interpretation of 3D seismic data in 2007, Oilex commenced adrilling program of six wells at the Cambay Field to confirm reserves in thetwo identified zones, whilst also evaluating the resource potential in deeperreservoir horizons, which are expected to provide significant explorationupside.
The Company's West Kampar PSC in Indonesia contains the Pendalian field, another priority target with full field development in Q4 2008 anticipated at 4-6,000 barrels of oil per day.
Oilex has so far this year drilled three exploration wells in Block 56 (onshoreOman), where two wells, Sarha-1 and Ghadaq-1, were oil discoveries. The Sarhastructure is being considered for appraisal drilling in the next phase of fourwells which is planned to start in August 2008.The resources in place at Sarha-1 are now subject to revaluation based on anestimated 45 metres of pay recorded in the well. Prior to drilling, the bestestimate resource of 20 million barrels of oil in place in one shallower,Permian objective assumed 10 metres of pay. Testing of other oil bearing zonesin Sarha-1 was precluded by technical difficulties and will be addressed in thenext phase of drilling.
There is significant additional exploration upside within Block 56 in the Cambrian Huqf formation and in Permian targets in structures that are analogous to producing fields across the block boundary in the main South Oman Salt basin.
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