Hoping for new licenses

“We are a company with patience and long-term perspective, and we must accept that some of the drillings has results like these,” states Yngve Vassmyr, CEO of Front Exploration as a comment to the announcement form one of the company’s license partners today, that the drilling in the Barents Sea so far has not revealed commercial accumulations of oil or gas

Hoping for new lincenses

Vassmyr is now looking forward to the answers from the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy regarding the applications for new licenses on the Norwegian continental shelf in connection with this year’s allocation of pre-defined areas (TFO 2011). The new licenses will probably be awarded in December. “As a proactive exploration company, we want access to new areas, and we have delivered an exciting application which demonstrates that we are ready to take on new responsibilities,” states Vassmyr.

New exploration drilling in March

Still, Front Exploration doesn’t have to wait longer than to March before the company will be exploring for oil and gas on new locations. The drilling on the Eik-prospect, significantly more north and east in the Barents Sea, is due to start in March. Front Exploration was awarded access to this prospect in the 19th concession round in 2006. Front Exploration AS has a 30 % share in the license, and the oil company Noreco will be the operator ”This is an exciting prospect, particularly in a northern perspective, because a discovery will create the need for new infrastructure and thus significant value creation in the region,” says Vassmyr.

Prepared for the future

Both the drilling of the Eik-prospect and the other operations Front Explorations have planned for the next three years are already financed. Each of the two majority shareholders, SpareBank1 Nord-Norge Invest AS and Troms Kraft Invest AS, recently injected NOK 100 million in new equity into Front Exploration AS. This will provide sufficient capital to fund planned activities until the end of 2014. “This provides a platform for the future, and makes the company less dependent on short-term drilling success”, says Vassmyr.

For further information, please contact:

CEO Yngve Vassmyr, mobile: +47 952 11634, email: yngve.vassmyr@frontx.no