Petrel Resources rose 8% to 75 pence this morning after announcing it had won a Production Sharing Agreement for the East Safawi Block in the Arabian Desert in Jordon. The block is considered by Petrel to be highly prospective for oil and gas as it neighbours the Risha gas field in Jordon and oil producing blocks in Syria.
Petrel Resources have agreed a three year exploration program, which will start with acquiring and interpreting seismic data over the block to identify drill targets. The company said it anticipated drilling in late 2008 or early 2009.
'This is a good block, in a highly prospective area: the Arabian Desert has both oil and gas potential. With great terms already in place, we are starting work straight away, reprocessing and acquiring seismic to identify drilling targets.' added Petrel Managing Director, David Horgan, 'Winning the East Safawi Production Sharing Agreement is the culmination of three years work with the Jordanian authorities. Terms are world-class, especially for oil. Jordan is an excellent business location: secure, friendly and
pro-business, which geographically and geologically fits well into Petrel's Iraq-centred strategy".