Wessex Exploration

• 22/05/12

  Directorate Change

• 16/05/12

  Guyane Update

• 12/04/12

  End of Offer Period

• 02/04/12

  Guyane Update (Replacement)

• 02/04/12

  Guyane Update

• 

  26/03/12

  Wessex Exploration: Principal shareholders snub Total’s £71 mln takeover

  Following shareholder consultation Wessex says Total's £71 million takeover approach undervalues the company.

• 

  19/03/12

  Wessex Exploration shares soar on £71 mln Total bid approach

  Total is one of three major oil companies which made the large Zaedyus oil discovery off the coast of South America last year. Wessex Exploration and fellow AIM oil firm Northern Petroleum share a 2.5 per cent in the venture.

   

• 

  04/01/12

  Wessex Exploration's new assets are the missing pieces of jigsaw, says chairman

  This morning the group revealed it has been provisionally awarded five exploration blocks in the English Channel. Wessex and its partner now own most of the acreage around Wytch Farm - the UK's largest onshore oilfield which was sold by BP for US$600 million last year. 

• 

  04/01/12

  Wessex Exploration and partner provisionally awarded blocks close to Wytch Farm

  Wessex Exploration and its Australian partner Norwest Energy have been provisionally awarded five oil exploration blocks in the English Channel.

• 

  29/12/11

  COMPANY Q&A: Fully funded Wessex primed for 2012

  Its shareholding in the potentially world class exploration area of the coast of Guyane has excited a great deal of interest in Wessex Exploration. But what can we expect from the company in 2012?

• 22/05/12

  Wessex Exploration chairman David Bramhill steps down

• 16/05/12

  Tullow Oil outlines extensive exploration programme for Zaedyus

• 12/04/12

  Wessex Exploration: Total walks away from possible takeover

• 15/03/12

  Wessex Exploration: Razorback seismic programme completed successfully

• 05/03/12

  Wessex Exploration to prepare English projects for drilling

Wessex Exploration plc (Wessex) was formed to explore the Wessex and Weald Basins of southern England at a time when the prolific Sherwood Sandstone reservoir had just been discovered in the giant Wytch Farm oil field and smaller oil and gas discoveries were being made in the Weald Basin. Wessex completed a regional geological study of these basins and concluded that the complexity of the stratigraphy, structure and geological history of the basins required a careful, disciplined and highly technical approach to hydrocarbon exploration and that additional significant hydrocarbon potential remained in place.

Wessex, having the technical resources to accomplish such disciplined exploration applied for and was awarded Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence PEDL 089 in Hampshire, located along the coastline and approximately 10 kilometres from the eastern end of Wytch Farm.

In late 2008, as a result of the United Kingdom 13th Landward Bid Round, Wessex was granted an interest in two new exploration licences, PEDL 238 (southern Dorset) and PEDL 239 (Isle of Wight).

Since that time, Wessex has also expanded into the international exploration arena and has acquired a portfolio of other assets in Guyane, (formerly French Guiana), the Mozambique Channel, offshore from Madagascar in the French territory of Juan de Nova and both offshore and onshore the Western Sahara of northwest Africa, all of which are expanded upon within the following Review of Operations.

The main guiding principles for Wessex in acquiring exploration acreage are:

• The presence of a proven petroleum system or at least, in an under-explored area, the presence of all the necessary components for same
• The presence of one or more oil majors in the same general area, exploring for what may result in significant new discoveries, thus adding value to Wessex’s acreage
• The presence of an anomalous or incomplete exploration cycle in the area, resulting from legal, access or operational hurdles blocking normal exploration and development of the area of interest

The Company now has the basis of an attractive and highly prospective portfolio of moderate to high risk but high reward projects on which the investment of new capital will help to add further value and unlock the potential of these assets.

United Kingdom

These southern Hampshire licences are located on the northern flank of Wessex Basin close to the prolific Wytch Farm oilfield (500 million barrels recoverable), the largest onshore oilfield in western Europe.

The licence lies in an area into which oil is believed to have migrated east of the main hydrocarbon trap at the Wytch Farm oilfield.  This situation is understood to be the result of the basin configuration at the time of the oil migration.  Early formed structures of the Pre-Upper Cretaceous age, are potential traps for the migrating oil.[READ MORE]

Guyane

Wessex, in alliance with Northern Petroleum has incorporated Northpet Investments, a company registered in the United Kingdom that holds a 2.5% interest in the Exclusive Exploration Licence (EEL) covering a vast offshore area of Guyane (a French prefecture previously called French Guiana).  The licence was renewed on 1 June, 2006 and covers an area of approximately 30,000 square kilometres.[READ MORE]

Juan De Nova Est, Mozambidue Channel

Wessex holds 70% of the Juan de Nova Est permit (subject to French Government approval) covering 9,010 square kilometres in the Mozambique Channel, northwest off the island of Madagascar.[READ MORE]

Western Sahara, Northwest Africa

In March 2006, Maghreb Exploration, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wessex, together with two other UK companies were awarded by the Government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) a production sharing contract over the onshore Bojador block covering 9,880,000 acres.[READ MORE]

David Bramhill  -- Non-Executive Chairman
Mr Bramhill has over 40 years experience in the natural resources industry.  Mr Bramhill has directed and managed several energy companies and was the former managing director of Oil Quest Resources plc (until its reverse takeover of EnCore Oil) which he followed with the formation and successful flotation of Nighthawk Energy plc on AIM.

Mr Bramhill previously consulted in an engineering capacity for over 20 years on projects for Shell, ExxonMobil, Petrofina, BP and numerous other international energy companies.

Frederik E Dekker --  Managing Director
Mr Dekker has over 40 years experience in the oil industry, predominantly with Union Oil (later Unocal).  With a background as a geologist, Mr Dekker offers extensive experience in the establishment and administration of exploration operations in various countries worldwide.

Mr Dekker later founded Wessex International Limited, providing consultancy services to operations such as Hardman Resources Limited, now a subsidiary of Tullow.  In these roles, Mr Dekker has built numerous and strong working relationships with local governments, legal, environmental and regulatory bodies.  Significant achievements in his career include initiating inter-country dialogue on mineral rights, leading to the establishment of internationally recognised median lines, for instance between Thailand and Vietnam.

Andy Yeo  - Non-Executive Director
Mr Yeo has more than 20 years experience in multi-discipline Corporate Advisory and Stockbroking activities within the AIM, Small and Mid Cap markets.  Mr Yeo was a founder member of Evolution Securities where he was and Executive Director and Head of Research.  Most recently, Mr Yeo has been retained as a Capital Markets Consultant by McCall, Aitken McKenzie & Co., a private equity advisory specialist in the international oil and gas sector.

Connect with Facebook to view or add comments for this company