Stella discovery successfully de-risked by the 30/6a-8 appraisal well
 

• Post appraisal well independent reserves audit of Stella (Sproule, April 2010):
   

               Over 500 ft Gas / Condensate column with 222 ft Oil rim

               2P net reserves: 14.37 mmboe

               NPV10: US$ 294 M (before tax)
 

• Confirmation of the development of Stella de-risks development of Harrier by providing an off-take route and significant Capex synergies
   
• GSA Development Team has been assembled to undertake concept selection and detailed development planning
   
• A number of potential off-take hosts are already engaged in constructive commercial discussions
   

 
Having taken over operatorship of the Stella/Harrier block from Maersk in November 2009 and following through on the intent to unlock the potential of the Greater Stella Area, Ithaca drilled an appraisal well on the Stella discovery in early 2010.  Following the success of this well and its sidetrack Ithaca plans to submit a joint Field Development Plan for the Stella and Harrier discoveries in Q1 2011.  Several off-take routes are under serious consideration and discussions with the hosts have already been advanced beyond the initial stages.  Detailed development planning is ongoing but, the development scheme is likely to involve 5 production wells drilled from a sub-sea drilling centre on Stella and 2 further production wells drilled from a second sub-sea drilling centre on Harrier.  The Harrier centre will be tied back to the Stella centre where the hydrocarbons from both fields (oil and gas) will be passed through a sub-sea pipeline to a host facility.
 

To fully leverage the operational synergies available through the development drilling campaign on Stella and Harrier, the appraisal of the Hurricane discovery is planned at the same time.  This will allow the fast track development of the discovery, currently planned as 2 oil producers and a water injector tied back to the Stella drilling centre and represents the second major development phase for the Greater Stella Area Development,

First Gas / Condensate and Oil production from Stella / Harrier is expected to be Q4 2012 with First Oil from Hurricane expected Q3 2013.

Ithaca intends to continue to hunt for additional opportunities to in the area including potentially economic undeveloped discoveries. This will allow the company to take advantage of operational synergies and to create "economies of scale".