Sonoro Energy Ltd., through a wholly owned subsidiary, has entered into an agreement to purchase a drilling rig. The drilling rig will be transferred to a joint-venture company to be established by Sonoro and its partners, Berkeley Petroleum Mesopotamia Ltd. and Geopetrol Iraq Corp., for its planned asphalt operations in Salah ad Din Province, Iraq.

A new 750-horsepower drilling rig was identified in the Middle East region and Sonoro is in the final stages of completing an extensive rig inspection, in addition to having had the vendor perform extensive commissioning work to prepare the rig for operations in the province of Salah ad Din.

The partners are in the process of establishing the joint-venture company to own and operate the rig. Sonoro will own 40% of the joint-venture company and Geopetrol and Berkeley will own 40% and 20%, respectively.

Richard Wadsworth, Sonoro chairman and chief executive officer, said, "We expect that having our own drilling rig will also allow for greater efficiency and control, as well as savings on our subsequent drilling programs on additional resource opportunities that we have identified.”