EnQuest to acquire majority equity stake and assume operatorship of both Crawford and Porter developments

EnQuest to acquire majority equity stake and assume operatorship of both
Crawford and Porter developments

 

EnQuest PLC is pleased to announce a farm in agreement with Fairfield
Acer Limited (‘Fairfield') for UKCS Block 9/28a - Area B, which contains
the Crawford oil field and the 9/28a -18 Porter oil discovery.  EnQuest
already holds a 19% interest in the block, through its acquisition of
Stratic Energy Corporation (‘Stratic') and with this agreement it will
acquire a further 32% interest in return for carrying Fairfield for
certain development costs, up to a maximum of £34.85 million.  The
Crawford field and Porter had gross 2P reserves of 26.8 MMboe as
determined at the end of 2010.  The transaction is subject to government
and partner approvals.

EnQuest's combined working interest will increase to 51% upon completion
of this transaction and EnQuest will become operator.  Based on the
determination as at the end of 2010, EnQuest's net 2P reserves will be
increased by 8.6 MMboe.  Fairfield will retain a 20% interest in the
block, the remaining 29% interest is held by Valiant Exploration Limited
(‘Valiant').

EnQuest CEO Amjad Bseisu said:

“EnQuest's strategic acquisition of Stratic provided us with an entry
point to the Crawford development, and provided the opportunity to add
value through mobilising a technical team to evaluate the development. 
EnQuest's position will be consolidated both by the increase in our
equity to 51% and by our new role as operator.  We are delighted to have
reached this agreement with Fairfield, we appreciate their extensive
experience and in particular their achievements in bringing the project
to its current state.  We look forward to working with Fairfield and
Valiant on this project and to delivery of a field development plan
(‘FDP') in 2012.”

Fairfield CEO, Chris Wright said:

 “We are very pleased to have reached this farm-out agreement with
Enquest, which marks another key moment in Fairfield's strategy of
bringing in partners, whilst remaining well placed to benefit from the
significant upside of the Crawford and Porter developments.  We look
forward to working closely with both Enquest and Valiant in the months
ahead, and to building upon the excellent work carried out to date by
our technical team in developing the acreage thus far.”

The Crawford field is located in the Northern North Sea approximately
300 km north east of Aberdeen, in water depth of around 385 ft. The
field was originally developed in 1989 with production having started in
April 1989 and ceased in December 1990, having reached cumulative oil
production of 3.9 MMbbl.  The initial Crawford development focused on
production from the Jurassic Hugin formation.  Subsequent appraisal
drilling in 2007 confirmed the extension of the field's Triassic
reservoir to the north of the previous development wells, and also
discovered oil in the Porter field within a separate Tertiary horizon.

The Block 9/28a - Area B partners are working towards the submission in
2012 of an FDP for the development of the Crawford Triassic reservoir,
together with Porter. EnQuest will assume leadership of the field
development planning activities with immediate effect, pending the
completion of the transaction, whereupon the operatorship of Block 9/28a
will transfer formally from Fairfield to EnQuest.

Ends

Notes to editors

EnQuest is the largest UK independent producer in the UK North Sea. 
EnQuest PLC trades on both the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ OMX
Stockholm.  It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 index and OMX Nordix
index.  Its assets include the Thistle, Deveron, Heather, Broom, West
Don and Don Southwest fields.  It has interests in 26 production
licences covering 34 blocks or part blocks in the UKCS, of which 21
licences are operated by EnQuest. 

EnQuest believes that the UKCS represents a significant hydrocarbon
basin in a low-risk region, which continues to benefit from an extensive
installed infrastructure base and skilled labour.  EnQuest believes that
its assets offer material organic growth opportunities, driven by
exploitation of current infrastructure on the UKCS and the development
of low risk near field opportunities.

Forward looking statements: This announcement may contain certain
forward-looking statements with respect to EnQuest's expectation and
plans, strategy, management's objectives, future performance,
production, costs, revenues and other trend information.  These
statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they
relate to events and depend upon circumstances that may occur in the
future.  There are a number of factors which could cause actual results
or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by
these forward looking statements and forecasts.   The statements have
been made with reference to forecast price changes, economic conditions
and the current regulatory environment.  Nothing in this presentation
should be construed as a profit forecast.  Past share performance cannot
be relied on as a guide to future performance.

For further information please contact:

EnQuest PLC
                                                                        
         Tel: +44 (0)20 7925 4900

Amjad Bseisu (Chief Executive)

Jonathan Swinney (Chief Financial Officer) 

Michael Waring (Head of Communications & Investor
Relations)                                              

Finsbury                                                       
                                 Tel: +44 (0)20 7251 3801

Andrew Mitchell

Conor McClafferty