At the Annual General Meeting to be held today Francis Gugen, Chairman of IGas, will make the following statement:

Planning is underway for further seismic acquisition in the North West that will commence in the next couple of months.  This data will form the basis of future appraisal/development drilling activity including identifying potential areas that will help optimise future development locations for shale gas production.

We announced last month that we have secured a rig to drill the Ellesmere Port exploration well which is expected to spud later this year. This well, which is a vertical exploration well, will be the third drilled in a sequence designed to give IGas a suite of results distributed across its licenced areas in the North West.

The exploratory work undertaken to date together with offset well data has given the company sufficient information to be able to design an appropriate hydraulic fracture program for the initial wells in the area. This will prove invaluable for future planning applications for potential shale wells and the ability to demonstrate the commerciality of gas extraction from these deep formations.

In the East Midlands, our 3-D seismic acquisition has been processed and is now being interpreted.  The results from this analysis will help to firm up the site selection process for a proposed well to be drilled in 2015, subject to timely receipt of necessary permits and planning consent.

We will be active in bidding for various blocks in the recently announced 14th Round of onshore licensing.  Our wealth of background data and operator status means we are well placed to participate and we are in discussions with partners in respect of a number of blocks.

Progress on the ‘Chase the Barrels’ initiative continues with a focus on sustainable long-term production enhancements and we are in the advanced stages of three gas monetisation projects.

The installation of the initial phase of rod pump controllers has proven successful and this initiative has been extended across the remaining fields.  This is part of a wider goal of utilising, where appropriate, IT capability to instrument and control the oil fields and gain both cost savings and efficiencies through the deployment of this technology.  This is frequently referred to as a “digital oilfield” initiative and we are pursuing this both to enhance performance in the existing mature fields and to develop the understanding with a view to installation of similar technology systems in the shale developments when they are implemented.

The installation of the pilot water injection project at Gainsborough is progressing well and is expected to commence in Q3, 2014.  The Welton pilot water injection scheme will follow shortly thereafter. The results from these pilots will help us to understand the potential of secondary recovery to enhance production and reserves within the IGas portfolio.”

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