Vicpet: Kemerkol Drilling Begins

Victoria Oil & Gas Plc, the oil and gas development company focused in the Former Soviet Union, on Monday announced that drilling has commenced at the first well of its 2007 development program at its Kemerkol oil project in Kazakhstan.

Well 73 will be drilled to a depth of 1,350 meters updip of Well 20, which has been producing oil since March 2006. Well 73 will be constructed in two stages with a static rig used for drilling and a truck-mounted work-over rig to be moved in for completion and testing. This operation is expected to take around two months. During completion of this well, the static rig will be relocated to the next target location.

Well 73 is the first of a six well drilling campaign at Kemerkol to be undertaken by Victoria during 2007 using this dual rig approach to maximize efficiency. The Company believes that a target oil production level of 500 barrels per day is attainable by mid-year.

Meanwhile, Well 20 has been temporarily shut in pending a work-over to increase oil production from this well. The work-over is expected to commence in April and will take around three weeks to complete.

Victoria's Chief Executive Officer Tony Porter said, "The spud-in of Well 73 signals the start of our strategy for boosting cash generation from production at Kemerkol. If the drilling of 73 and the work-over of Well 20 are successful, we could have in excess of 300 barrels of oil flowing per day to begin with."