TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., June 19, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Aurora Oil & Gas Corporation (AMEX:AOG) today announced that its year-to-date operations and drilling program are on track to meet expectations. William W. Deneau, President and CEO of Aurora Oil & Gas explains, "With a success rate of over 95%, our operations team has been diligently focused on drilling wells, increasing production and growing our reserve base."
Over the course of 2006, Aurora has participated in 40 commercial Antrim Shale gas wells, 21 of which are operated by Aurora. Eight of the wells are already in production and the remaining wells are waiting on infrastructure which should be completed in the near future. Several of the projects already have infrastructure built allowing successful wells to be quickly added to production. The Company will continue to be focused on developing the Antrim Shale to enhance revenue growth for the balance of the year. Expectations are to participate in 110 additional Antrim wells for the duration of 2006.
During that same period, the Company also participated in 16 commercial New Albany Shale gas wells, 6 of which are operated by Aurora. Two of the wells are already in production. As with the Antrim Shale, the remaining wells are also waiting for infrastructure to be completed prior to production. Aurora's interest on the 16 wells drilled to date has varied from 5 to nearly 49 percent. Expectations are to drill an additional 34 wells in the New Albany Shale with varying degrees of participation during the balance of 2006. Mr. Deneau commented, "Though we are still in the beginning stage of our operations in the New Albany play, the results from these wells are encouraging and we will aggressively continue to develop our acreage in that region."
At this time, Aurora owns an interest in 360 producing wells, 307 of which are Antrim Shale and 7 of which are New Albany Shale wells. There are another 87 commercial wells which are waiting on completion of infrastructure. The producing wells are generating net production to Aurora of approximately 7,250 net mcf of natural gas per day -- a 25% increase over December 31, 2005. Mr. Deneau commented, "Recently a series of Antrim wells were kept out of production because we encountered an excessive amount of water. On one hand, water is a good sign because it indicates excellent fractures that will produce large volumes of gas. On the other hand, our total production rates were lower because these wells had to be shut-in and are a few weeks late to production. We have drilled more water disposal wells to accelerate the dewatering of these fields. As the shale wells continue their dewatering process, gas production will rise over the coming months."
About Aurora Oil & Gas Corporation:
Aurora Oil & Gas Corporation is an independent energy company focused on unconventional natural gas exploration, acquisition, development and production with its main operations in the Michigan Antrim Shale and Indiana New Albany Shale.
Statements regarding the anticipated drilling activities, wells being put into production and resulting production rates are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although we believe that the anticipated benefits described are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that they will prove accurate. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements include the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices for oil and gas, lower than expected financial performance, fluctuations within the trading markets as a whole, a reduced interest of the investment public in energy companies, and other risks more fully described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this release, are based on management's outlook only as of the date of this release and we undertake no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of subsequent developments or otherwise.