Northern announces that the Ministerie van Economische Zaken (“the Ministry”) in the Netherlands has formally consented to the subdivision of the Andel II licence held by Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij B.V. (“NAM”). The Ministry has also consented to the transfers of the new Andel III licence between NAM and Northern’s wholly owned Netherlands subsidiary NP Netherlands B.V. (“NPN”). Preparation of the subsequent documentation is underway.                          

The new Andel III licence contains the Andel, Brakel and Ottoland discoveries that Northern has secured under the terms of its agreements with NAM. NPN also has a commitment to NAM to drill one exploration well on the Andel III licence within the next two years. 

Derek Musgrove, Managing Director of Northern, stated:

“Northern is delighted to have received the approval for this transfer following the award of the 25 year Papekop Production Licence last month. We now look forward to bringing Ottoland and Papekop, our two oil development projects, into production as soon as possible. With these transfers soon to be in place we are reviewing the possibility of significantly increasing oil production levels at an earlier stage than originally planned.”

For further information please contact:

Northern Petroleum Plc
Derek Musgrove, Managing Director
Graham Heard, Exploration Manager
Tel: +44(0) 20 7743 6080

Investec
Michael Ansell
Tel: +44(0)20 7597 5000

Panmure Gordon & Co
Katherine Roe
Tel: +44(0)20 7459 3600

Hansard Communications
Chris Roberts
Ben Simons
Tel. +44(0) 20 7245 1100