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Company Information for Po Valley Energy Ltd

Company stock charts - 6 Month chart

Exchange ASX; PVE


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Company Statement


Po Valley Energy is a leading independent Oil and Gas enterprise growing rapidly from quiet, results-driven beginnings. The Company currently operates exclusively in northern Italy exploiting the large hydrocarbon system, and it is on the verge of becoming a significant gas producer in the fast-growing and under-supplied Italian market as it brings its first fields into production - with more to come. All of the Po Valley Energy's fields are in very close proximity to the pipeline grid and major consumers in the north of Italy.

Po Valley Energy, through its subsidiaries Northsun Italia S.p.A and Po Valley Operations Pty Ltd holds 11 licence areas, 2 of which, Sillaro and Castello, were awarded the production concessions in November 2008, and 130.4 bcf of 3P gas reserves. The Po Valley region, between the Alps and the Apennines, is the main gas production zone in Italy and has produced more gas than Australia's Northwest shelf. Italian gas prices are high by world standards, transportation costs are negligible and capital costs are very low resulting in highly attractive development economics. The Company Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on 14 December 2004. 

Having operated in Italy for 10 years the Company is experienced in Italy's regulatory process and has successfully managed each stage over a lengthy period. The Company's presence in Italy and local management team represents significant competitive advantage not enjoyed by newer entrants seeking to find success in the Italian market. The Company has continued to grow its portfolio of assets at a very low cost relative to other oil and gas companies, providing the basis for future shareholder value creation. Italy remains an attractive market with gas and oil being of high quality, an accessible and low cost transportation network and a pricing environment that has been stable and higher than other comparable European countries.


Operations and Technology

Sillaro
Sillaro, in the Crocetta licence area east of Bologna, is the Company's largest natural gas field discovered to date. The field was originally explored by ENI between 1955 and 1982 with seven wells drilled in and around the structure. The field contains gas bearing zones in the Pliocene level at a depth of 2,100 metres. The deepe rMiocene level, at a depth of 2,500 metres, was previously drilled by ENI and found to have a gas bearing reservoir.

The Company is progressing its plan to put this field into commercial production. Environmental approval was granted during January 2008 and in November 2008, PoValley was granted a 20-year production concession over this field. SNAM completed the connection to the pipeline grid,300 metres from the Sillaro well head, at its cost, in December 2008. The construction contract for surface gas treatment plant was awarded to Italian contractor Semat in 2007 and the plant has been completed on schedule within budget. Po Valley expects installation of surface plant at Sillaro to commence in the third quarter of 2009, enabling connection of the plant to the newly installed pipeline grid connection.

Po Valley plans to drill a second well, Sillaro-2, into the Pliocene gas reservoir, designed to produce from multiple levels to increase overall flows rates, optimise total field recovery and increase reserves. Sillaro-2 will be drilled from the existing Sillaro-1d drill-site prior to commencing production from this field.

The Sillaro field has Proven and Probable (2P) gas reserves of 14 bcf, and is expected to have an initial gas production rate from its two wells of 3.8 mmcf/d when it is expected to begin production in the final quarter of 2009.

Plans are also well advanced to exploit the deeperMiocene structure beneath the Sillaro gas field. A total of 50 kilometres of seismic data were purchased during2006 and reviewed to confirm the size and structure of the Miocene target and a drill location for this well, Fantuzza-1, has been selected. The planned 2,600 metres deep Fantuzza-1 well will be Po Valley's first test of this deeper structure, previously successfully drilled and tested by ENI. The Company is awaiting final environmental approvals, with the well expected to be drilled following production and cash flows from Castello and Sillaro. The surface plant and pipeline connection at Sillaro has been sized to take advantage of success at Fantuzza-1, located about two kilometres from the Sillaro field production site. 

Castello
Castello, east of Milan, is scheduled to be the Company's first gas field in commercial production. The field was drilled in 2005 at a location updip from the former ENI Agnadello well.

The Castello gas field was successfully tested by Po Valley in Vitalba #1 well over two gas bearing levels early in 2006. Flow rate testing of the two levels, San A1 and San A2, produced flows of 2.8 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) on a 1/4 " choke.

The field will be a single well development connected to the grid some 800 metres away. Environmental approval was granted during March 2008 and the Company was awarded a 20-year production concession in November 2008.

The surface gas treatment plant contract was awarded to Semat of Italy and is 100% complete, on schedule and within budget, awaiting installation approval. SNAM Rete Gas, Italy's national pipeline grid operator, is currently undertaking the connection to the pipeline grid.The Company is ready to put the field into commercial production.

Castello has Proven and Probable (2P) gas reserves of 6.3 bcf and is expected to have an initial production rate of 2.7 mmcf/d when it is expected to come online around mid 2009. 

Sant' Alberto
Sant' Alberto, north of Bologna, is the third field in the portfolio to progress towards commercial gas production.

In March 2008, Po Valley reached an agreement with Edison to take over operatorship of the field and move to 100% ownership. We plan to complete a new 2D seismic acquisition program in the second half of 2009, to improve field knowledge and support our production licence application. Our renewed focus on the field aims to achieve commercialization by the second half of 2010. 

The Bezzecca
The Bezzecca #1 well, located within the Company's 100% owned Cascina San Pietro permit area east of Milan, is the Company's fourth appraisal well.

Drilling commenced in March 2009 and strong flow rates with rapid pressure recoveries were reported after the successful completion of all production tests on three levels at Bezzecca #1 - deep Miocene, shallow Miocene and the Pliocene.

Initial flow from the deep Miocene level from 1925m to 1945m was 2.2 million cubic feet per day on a ¼ inch choke at a pressure of 1760 psi. The tested flows stabilized and exhibited rapid and full pressure recovery.

A relatively small perforated zone in the shallow Miocene from 1913m to 1916m tested at 0.55 million cubic feet per day on a ¼ inch choke. The flow was stable and pressure recovery was rapid.

The Pliocene level between 1862m and 1863m also produced better than expected gas flows. In Bezzecca, the Pliocene gas bearing levels are in thin zones above the main Miocene target. The Pliocene level flowed at a stabilized rate of 1.0 million cubic feet per day on a 3/16 inch choke with good pressure recovery.

As a result, this test program generated an aggregated flow rate of 3.75 million cubic feet per day. 

Fantuzza
Fantuzza is a deeper structure of Sillaro; the well is located with the task to exploit a deeper Miocene structure. 50km of seismic data was purchased during 2006 and reviewed to confirm the size and structure of the Miocene target and a drill location has been selected. Fantuzza 1 will be the first Po Valley Energy well targeted to test this deeper structure which was previously successfully drilled and tested by ENI.

The well is expected to be drilled in the first half of 2009 to a depth of 2,600m. 

New Prospects
In November, Po Valley was granted six year exploration licences for its La Prospera and Terra del Sole prospects near Bologna. The two new licences expand our portfolio of exploration licences to nine. Following extensive geological studies and seismic interpretation, we have defined three priority gas targets in the La Prospera licence - Gradizza, Pioppette and Capitello. The most advanced of these is the Gradizza prospect, a shallow (1,000 metre) anticlinal structure with a strong "bright spot" and good seismic definition. It contains estimated P50 potential resources of 7 bcf. Seismic reprocessing and further work is underway on the Pioppette and Capitello structures and on the Castrocaro prospect in Terra del Sole licence area.

Another recent success is the grant of a six year exploration licence for the Podere Gallina permit near Bologna. The permit covers 506 square kilometres. Following integrated geological and seismic interpretation studies, the Company has defined three priority gas targets in Podere Gallina - Fondo Perino, Cembalina and Casa Rossa. The most advanced of these is Fondo Perino, a faulted anticlinal structure at a depth of approximately 1,500 metres and which contains estimated P50 potential resources of 22 bcf of gas. The Cembalina structure, which has the potential to be of similar size, will be the subject of further geological and geophysical study, including possible seismic acquisition, during 2009.

The Company also received preliminary award of three further exploration permits in 2008; Cadelbosco di Sopra near Modena, Grattasasso also near Modena and an offshore Adriatic permit, AR-168-PY "Azzurra". The Cadelbosco permit area contains the Correggio gas discovery previously produced by ENI and estimated to contain remaining P50 gas resources of 35 bcf. In addition to other exploration potential, the permit area also contains the Bagnolo in Piano oil discovery with estimated remaining P50 resources of 5 million barrels of oil ("mmbbl").

The Grattasasso permit, adjacent to the Cadelbosco di Sopra permit, contains the Ravizza oil field which is estimated to contain P50 resources of 5 mmbbl. The preliminary award of exploration licence, AR-168-PY "Azzurra", is the first offshore licence area sought for the Company. It covers an area of 526 square kilometers situated in the Adriatic Sea off Italy's east coast, in shallow water (30 metres) adjacent to the large ENI Agostino and Porto Garibaldi gas fields. ENI previously drilled and tested positive gas flows in separate wells during the 1980s and 1990s; Azzurra-1, Ginevra-1dir,Irma-1 and Carola-1 prior to relinquishing the area. The licence area also has extensive 3D seismic coverage acquired during the 1990s.

Exploration Focus
Initial seismic and geological reviews have been completed on all of our new licences in northern Italy. Some 17 gas prospects have been mapped with P50 potential resources ranging in size from 2.5 to 50 bcf. Like Sillaro, Castello and Bezzecca these gas prospects are expected to yield high quality gas, benefit from close proximity to the national pipeline grid and high Italian gas prices. Detailed geological and geophysical studies are underway and are expected to be completed during 2009. In total, 394 kilometres of seismic has been purchased. The priority targets for the 2010 drilling program are Fondo Perino in the Podere Gallina licence area and two targets in the La Prospera licence area -- Gradizza and Cembalina. Final well locations will be identified through these studies with a view to lodging drilling applications late in 2009.



Board of Directors and Key Management

Board
Graham Bradley - Chairman
Michael Masterman - Managing Director and CEO
David McEvoy - Non Executive Director
Byron Pirola - Non Executive Director

Management
Doug Colkin - Chief Operating Officer
Dom Del Borrello - Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary
Pierluigi Vecchia - Program Manager

Company Address

Level 28, 140 St. George's Tce
Perth, Western Australia, Australia 6000

Telephone:+39 06 42014968
Facsimile:+39 06 42391900
Email:info[at]povalley.com
Website:http://www.povalley.com

Additional Address/Key Contact

Rome Office: 
Via Boncompagni 47
00187 Rome
Italy

Tel: +390642014968

Capital

The Company had 102,268,096 ordinary shares allotted and quoted on the Australian Stock Exchange ("ASX") as at 17 March 2009.

Major Shareholders

1 MICHAEL MASTERMAN 21,531,137 21.05%
2 COGENT NOMINEES PTY LIMITED 18,962,396 18.54%
3 CITICORP NOMINEES PTY LIMITED 15,093,858 14.76%
4 JOAN MASTERMAN 4,788,444 4.68%
5 EQUITY TRUSTEES LIMITED 4,054,741 3.96%
6 HSBC CUSTODY NOMINEES 3,830,676 3.75%
7 BERONIA INVESTMENTS PTY LT 2,871,721 2.81%
8 NATIONAL NOMINEES LIMITED 2,673,397 2.61%
9 SYMMALL PTY LTD 1,915,927 1.87%
10 BERONIA FS PTY LTD 1,680,000 1.64%

Related News

09/03/10 - Po Valley Energy Starts 2010 In Good Shape With Castello Onstream And Sillaro Nearing Commissioning
14/07/09 - Po Valley Energy Takes Control Of Castello and Sillaro As It Motors Towards First Gas In October 2009
15/04/09 - Initial Gas Flows From Bezzecca-1 Look Promising For Po Valley Energy

Most Recent Statement

02/03/10 - Po Valley Energy 2009 Financial Report
03/11/09 - Castello gas plant connected to Italian grid
14/10/09 - Po Valley Energy Announces Share Purchase Plan
14/09/09 - Gas production capacity confirmed in Initial Tests
14/09/09 - Plant installation commences on PoValley`s Sillaro gas field
01/09/09 - General Meeting Proxy Table

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