Acquisition of APA Petroleum Engineering Inc by RPS Energy Canada Ltd

APA Petroleum Engineering Inc (APA) and RPS Energy Canada Ltd (RPSEC) are pleased to announce that, with effect from 1 February 2007, APA has become part of RPSEC, and will be included in the Energy Division of RPS Group plc (RPS). APA will now trade as RPS-APA. The combined group will operate on a worldwide basis from regional offices in Canada, USA, Europe, SE Asia and Australia.

RPS considers APA to be one of the foremost consultancies of its kind in North America and this move, which comes in response to developing global market opportunities within the oil & gas and energy consulting sectors, adds significant world-class capability to the Energy Division of RPS. Both RPS Energy and APA have a reputation for providing flexible independent consultancy with an emphasis on developing long term relationships with their clients. This ethos will continue within, and be strengthened by, the combined organisation.

There are significant geographical and functional synergies between the two companies that will allow RPS Energy to ensure that both new and existing clients receive an enhanced and responsive service in respect of both specialist and integrated services. In particular, APA will strengthen and broaden the production, facilities and well engineering capability of RPS Energy, adding to the group's already broad range of capability in technical, commercial and advisory services. By bringing the organisations together under a common management and investment strategy, RPS Energy will be able to respond quickly to and effectively to the requirements of its worldwide clients.

The management teams of both organisations will remain with the businesses and contribute to its future success. Both RPSEC and APA place significant value on developing and maintaining an excellent relationship with their employees and consultants, and consider that the expanded group will provide new opportunities for its personnel on both project and career development levels, leading to increased value for clients.

This is an exciting time for APA; joining RPS Energy Canada Ltd provides a platform for further development and success at both company and personal levels. 

Notes to editors:

RPS Group Plc, the ultimate parent company of RPS Energy Canada Ltd, is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and provides high quality advice in a range of areas including energy consulting, development planning, environmental assessment and risk management, health, safety and engineering across a number of industry sectors. .RPS has been trading since 1970 and has a network of regional offices throughout Europe in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and international offices in Canada, USA, Australia and Malaysia. The Group moved to the full Stock Exchange in 1995, is now a member of the FTSE 250 on the London Stock Exchange and has been named in the FTSE4Good index of socially responsible companies since the scheme's inception.

The Energy Division, one of the largest divisions within RPS, specialises in providing advisory and consultancy services to the oil and gas, renewables and nuclear sectors of the energy industry. World-wide the division offers a wide range of skills and undertakes consultancy projects of all types including: exploration, integrated field studies, due diligence, transaction support, licence round support, reserves reporting, asset valuations and optimisation, project management. It also undertakes more operations-focussed consultancy to provide support for seismic acquisition, geological well operations, site investigation, geotechnical and survey services.

In Canada, RPS Energy Canada Ltd with offices in Calgary and Halifax, specializes in consulting services to the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors. These include geological well operations and seismic operations, project management, geotechnical and survey services.

APA began trading in Calgary in 1983, as Adams Pearson Associates Ltd. and has steadily expanded since that time in terms of both the scope of services offered and the size of its professional staff. Its key areas of petroleum engineering expertise are complementary to those offered by RPS and include consultancy services providing support for: reservoir engineering, unconventional reservoir development planning, integrated petroleum studies & field modelling, frontier, Arctic & deep-water development planning, production engineering & optimization models and complex well design & engineering.

RPS-APA is an integrated, sub-surface petroleum engineering consultancy that levers the creative thinking of an experienced team of specialists; state-of-the-art software; and a broad spectrum of world-wide experience to provide innovative and cost-effective solutions to the evaluation and development of oil & gas resources both in North America and overseas. The combined group excels at taking on complex technical problems and economic challenges, such as those involved in converting known resources into reserves and the optimization of declining production.