Petro Rio S.A. HRTPF

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MATERIAL FACT

CLARIFICATION ON CVM/BOVESPA CONSULTATION
OFFICIAL LETTER BM&FBOVESPA GEA-1/N°504/2013
 

Rio de Janeiro, September 11^th, 2013 - HRT Participações em Petróleo S.A. (the "Company" or "HRT") (BM&FBOVESPA: HRTP3, TSX-V: HRP), pursuant to the Official Letter GEA-1/N°504/2013 ("Letter") as of September 10^th, 2013, in which the Company has been asked to present clarifications about the Material Fact released on September 9^th, we hereby inform: 

Steps that will be taken by the Executive Board, due to the termination of the current exploratory campaign in Namibia: 

• The Company has been working on the review of the Business Plan, in which the activities to be developed in the Namibian assets in the next 2 years will be defined;



• As per the Minutes of the Board of Directors' meeting held on September 9 and 10, 2013, on its item (a.1): [.] "The Board of Directors discussed the strategies and plans to enhance the Company's cash position. The Board of Directors provided the executive board with the guidelines to develop an updated business plan with a view to reflecting significant cost reduction, so that it can assure financial stability throughout 2014";



• HRT will process all geological and geochemical data sampled with the drilling of the three exploration wells (Wingat-1, Murombe-1 and Moosehead-1) and will calibrate their seismic interpretations and petroleum system modelings aiming to reassess the current prospects and identify new potential prospects. Based on these new studies, the Company will search for new partnerships aiming to carry out future exploratory campaigns in these basins.
   

Financing sources for new exploratory efforts, given the current financial and equity conditions of the company:

• New exploratory efforts have to be funded through new strategic partnerships. Two farm-downs (Namibia and Solimões) are under negotiations with a view to raising funds and sharing the risk. As disclosed on the Material Fact as of September 4^th, 2013 ("Updates on the Strategic Divestment Program"), the Company announced that: (i) concluded the sale of its air logistics business (Air Amazonia, with a fleet of six helicopters), having received US$ 23 million, which may reach up to US$ 40 million; (ii) performed the sale of an airplane, having received US$ 1.8 million, and (iii) it is performing the disposal of other assets (eight helicopters, three airplanes, four heli-transportable drilling rigs), with an estimated value of around US$ 80 million, as well as the disposal of its laboratory (IPEXco), all none-core assets for E&P activities;
  • The activities to be developed in a short-term will be related to the studies, such as the evaluation of drilled-well results and reprocessing of already-acquired seismic data, not including new drillings. In this way, these investments will be associated with own Company's personnel costs and specialized consultancies.
     
  Reasons why the CEO of HRT assures that new exploration efforts will bring commercial hydrocarbon discoveries:
  
  • The sentence quoted by the CEO of HRT refers to the exploratory efforts to be conducted and commercial hydrocarbon discoveries to be identified by companies that also hold assets in Namibia and it reflects only positive expectations under the geological point of view. This is because, through the execution of 3D seismic surveys in 2012, and the drilling of three exploration wells in 2013, it was possible to identify source rocks, and in the first well drilled by the Company, Wingat-1, high-quality oil samples, however with no commercial volume;
    • As an example of these expectations, new drillings to be performed in 2014 were announced by companies that also hold exploration rights in Namibia, and whose results, in case they are positive, may add value to HRT's assets.