PERTH, Australia, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Nido Petroleum Ltd ("Nido") is
pleased to announce that after completing several large seismic surveys,
its deepwater prospects and leads inventory in the NW Palawan basin has
oil-in-place potential of 11.6 billion barrels.

    Following recent positive responses from major oil companies, Nido is
now commencing its formal search for a strategic partner to explore for oil
and gas in the Philippines and is inviting industry players to submit
Expressions of Interest to participate in a world-class offshore
exploration program.

    Jon Pattillo, Nido's Head of Exploration, says, "Securing a technically
capable operator to partner with Nido in testing the significant deepwater
potential of the Palawan Basin is an important and consistent component of
Nido's exploration strategy. Whilst not yet complete, the results of our
seismic processing have so far generated a prospect and lead inventory that
can be truly classified as world-class. Whilst much work remains to be
done, commencing the search for a strategic partner represents an exciting
event for Nido."

    Nido intends to retain a minority working interest in the basin in
order to participate in the success that it believes will result from the
upcoming exploration drilling program. The farm-out will proceed through a
series of steps, the first of which is to invite interested parties to
submit Expressions of Interest to receive the Information Memorandum and to
gain access to the Data Room.


    The stand out features of Nido's big-hit exploration portfolio include:

    * A basin with demonstrated prospectivity and success rates of over 50%.
    * 9,861 km of 2-D and 1,325 km2 of 3-D seismic acquired over the last
      3 years.
    * All prospects and leads are in proven geological play types and have
      been reviewed by a third party.
    * 40 identified prospects and leads of which the Top 20 are earmarked as
      potential drilling candidates within the next three to five years.
    * Top 20 prospect sizes range from 97 to 2,747 million barrels of
      oil-in-place in water depths ranging from 75 to 1,400 metres.

    Jocot de Dios, Nido's Chief Executive Officer, points out, "After 10
years of diligent effort we are delighted to reach this critical milestone.
Nido has long believed in the potential of the NW Palawan Basin to be an
overlooked exploration province. Our efforts to date vindicate that view,
and have revealed a potential prize greater than our expectations. Given
the sizes of the identified drilling targets it is apparent that just one
discovery has the potential to transform Nido -- we intend to drill up to
20 of these large prospects over the coming years. This is the dawn of an
exciting era for Nido."

    An official 'Invitation to Participate in a World-Class Offshore
Exploration Program' can be obtained by contacting the company direct via
phone +61 8 9474 0000 or email to exploration@nido.com.au.




    For further information contact:
    Sascha Stone
    PR Advisor
    Nido Petroleum Limited
    Tel: +61 8 9473 0546
    Mob: +61 417 174 072
    Fax: +61 8 9473 0576
    Email: pms@pmsmarketing.com.au

Link to this page: