Operations
CYGAM OPERATIONS:
ITALIAN PERMITS:
Montalbano Permit
Vega is the operator and has a 30% working interest in the Montalbano permit located in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, an area where some major onshore oil and gas fields (Candela-Palino, Grottole and Pisticci) are on production. The Pisticci oil and gas field is located immediately north of the permit while several gas wells not yet on production are located within 25 to 60 kilometres from the southern and eastern boundaries of the permit. After preliminary approval granted on December 18, 2002, the block was officially awarded to Vega on September 8, 2005, for a six-year initial term. The parcel is 165.04 square kilometres in size (40,781 acres). Within 36 months of the formal award, Vega is committed to purchase and reprocess approximately 80 kilometres of existing seismic data, acquire an additional 40 kilometres of seismic lines and drill a well to a planned total vertical depth of 2,200 metres.
A technical committee meeting was held in February, 2006, with the two other partners in the permit, JKX Italia and Gas Natural, a Spanish company, to discuss the purchase of seismic data and obtain additional information on an older well which tested gas close to the northern boundary of the permit. Exploration objectives are Pliocene sands, which produce gas and 32°-36°API oil in nearby fields, Miocene calcarenites and Cretaceous to Jurassic carbonates.