VNG gains acreage in Norway

Aug. 11, 2008
Verbundnetz (VNG) Gas AG has agreed to buy shares of three production licenses off central Norway that are held and operated by Norway's DNO AS.

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

LONDON, Aug. 11 -- Verbundnetz (VNG) Gas AG has agreed to buy shares of three production licenses off central Norway that are held and operated by Norway's DNO AS.

The deal requires Norwegian authority approval before it becomes effective starting from Jan. 1.

VNG Norge will acquire a 30% interest each in Fongen (PL 380) and Struten (PL 383). An exploration well is expected to be drilled on each license in 2009. VNG has agreed to carry 30% of DNO's drilling cost related to the two wells.

DNO also has sold a 20% interest in the Litjormen prospect (PL 447) to VNG, reducing its ownership from 50% to 30%. DNO has acquired 3D seismic for PL 447, which was awarded in June 2007, but has not yet made any firm decisions about exploratory drilling.

Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].