Manas says Dr. Ladwein assumes CEO role after Vogel resigns

Manas Petroleum (CVE:MNP) (OTCBB:MNAP) says that its chief executive officer, Peter-Mark Vogel, has resigned from his post, and will be replaced by current president Dr. Werner Ladwein.

The board of directors has also reappointed Ari Muljana as chief financial officer. Further, the company said that director Michael Velletta has resigned as corporate secretary, with Vogel being appointed by the board. 

Also at a meeting in late March, the board appointed Velletta, Dr. Richard Schenz and Murray Rogers as members of the audit committee. 

Manas is on the brink of closing a share purchase agreement that will give it an 80 percent stake in producing oil assets in Tajikistan, expanding its existing footprint on what Dr. Ladwein calls "world class acreage", as the junior works toward its transformation from a pure exploration company to both a producer and explorer. 

Late last year, the oil and gas explorer inked a deal to acquire 80 percent of an unnamed Swiss entity with eight producing fields, which hold 2P reserves of 30 plus million barrels of oil and additional gas. Current production is less than 300 barrels of oil per day. 

Manas is looking to rehabilitate the assets and increase production through proper maintenance, including investing in new equipment, appraising and exploring missed extensions and prospects, and selling the oil locally at a price that competes with import crude oil from Kazakhstan. 

The production forecast, according to an internal evaluation of a 25-year  production and based on 4 years of investment using a yearly decline of six percent, showed peak production of more than 3,200 barrels of oil per day will be achieved at the end of year four. This does not include any upside and therefore production could be higher with increased investment, the company says. 

Manas is armed with exploration assets in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the Fergana Basin near producing fields, which together span 4,192 square kilometres and form “one large, connected area”. It has already acquired 2D seismic data on 1,960 km. 

Drilling on these licenses, with several drill-ready prospects, is planned for the last quarter of this year, with the company waiting on some long-lead items in terms of equipment, as well as the finalization of a drilling contractor agreement and the execution of a partnership to share the costs.