Through the recent successes in the last three license rounds on Norwegian and UK Continental shelves Rocksource has added eight new, exciting licenses to its portfolio. With six confirmed positive CSEM anomalies and with two more licenses currently undergoing final analysis, Rocksource has established a license portfolio of low risk, high value prospects which could be drilled within 2-3 years. Establishing this drill queue represents a major milestone for the company where focus will shift from gathering the most exiting acreage to actually drilling them. The presentation published in conjunction with this report shows the upside inherent in this portfolio. The estimate for net risked (mean) resources for the 8 CSEM positive prospects represents an upside of 18 NOK/share.

First quarter operating income was NOK 29.1 million, a reduction of 49% compared to previous quarter of NOK 57.4 million and NOK 59.9 million same quarter 2008, a reduction due to lower production and a substantial drop in gas prices in the US. Compared to an average gas price of USD 12.3 per mcf in the record quarter Q2 2008 and USD 6.7 per mcf in previous quarter, the gas price was down to USD 4.6 per mcf in Q1 2009, representing a reduction of 63%.

Although 2009 will provide a challenging trading environment for the oil and gas industry, Rocksource has already seen that it will also present a number of opportunities to grow the company. The company believe more assets will become available in the US, more exploration assets will be available worldwide, and that there will be an even stronger demand for "smarter" exploration. All these factors reinforce Rocksource ability to continue to grow and to realise the full potential of the portfolio.

Tags: Rocksource ASA