Meridian Petroleum PLC : Onwards into 2007/2008

pillow: Orion will be excellent and pleased theyplaced it in front of Milford, as I suggested some time ago they would.

With rig booked for January, with gas in good commercial quantity and an interest far greater than that at Milford it was most sensible and will when completed add valuable cashflow, to fund Ensight's enthusiasm on the Calvin fields and other projects and its probably more important than 36-1, where that has taken the limelight, amplified out of proportion, but where the delays have also acted disproportionately on the SP in comparison to the other major assets.

H2S treatments have come on considerably and are cheaper, so the lease at Orion was a well timed and well judged move, another in the acquisition of assets that TM has not really had the credit for along with the other in the main behind the scenes work, like the JV (now formalised). As assets become more difficult to obtain, MRP's strategy of acquiring a diverse and comparatively large portfolio of potential projects for such a small company, will prove more and more to have been a very shrewd move, but where in the period in question all that many focused on was 36-1.

I really want 36-1 out of the way, not just for production, but to move on.

With every asset brought on line MRP gains twofold. One from the production and two from the point of ending cash required to bring that asset on line, leaving others to be targeted, and where the 'others' are in the main very substantial projects.