KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 22): Reach Energy Bhd's share price rose as much as two sen or 11.76% in morning trades today after the company said yesterday its Kazakhstan operations under Emir-Oil obtained oil and gas (O&G) production contracts for the North Kariman and Yessen fields from Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry.

Reach Energy shares rose to their highest so far today at 19 sen before the counter pared gains to trade at 18.5 sen at 9:53am with some 16 million shares transacted.

Reach Energy was among the bourse's most-active stocks. At 19 sen, Reach Energy has a market capitalisation of RM202.84 million.

Yesterday, Reach Energy also announced to Bursa Malaysia, among others, the three-year extension of its O&G exploration contract known as Exploration Contract-482 by the ministry.

"As Emir-Oil's previous Exploration Contract-482 period is until Jan 9, 2020, the company (Reach Energy) is pleased to announce that a three-year extension to the 791.01 km² exploration contract has been awarded by the ministry. The extension of this exploration contract is until Dec 31, 2022," Reach Energy said.