Houston, Oct. 30, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BPZ
Energy (NYSE: BPZ) (BVL: BPZ), an independent oil and gas
exploration and production company, today provided an operations
update regarding the 2014 exploration campaign at onshore Block
XXIII.
Onshore Block XXIII (100% BPZ; 200,000
acres)
Three onshore shallow exploration wells, ranging
in depth from 3,500 to 3,800 feet, have been drilled at Block XXIII
during 2014. These wells targeted the Caracol, El Cardo, and
Piedra Candela prospects, which are on a six-mile trend. All
three wells tested dry gas from the Mancora formation. The
Caracol 1X well also recovered some light oil from the Heath
formation and also tested dry gas from the Zorritos
formation.
The Piedra Candela 3X exploratory well reached a
total depth of 3,515 feet. The well is located at the
northeastern tip of Block XXIII near Block XIX (100% BPZ; 500,000
acres), and tested a combined 4.1 million cubic feet per day
(mmscfpd) from two zones that were stimulated. Internal
volumetric estimates for the Piedra Candela discovery are up to 39
billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas, assuming the prospect is full to
the spill point. The Caracol 1X and El Cardo 2X wells tested 1.5
and 0.3 mmscfpd, respectively. Internal volumetric estimates
for the Caracol and El Cardo discoveries are up to 34.9 Bcf and up
to 10.1 Bcf of gas, respectively, assuming the prospects are full
to the spill point.
The Company will pursue a long term testing
program in these Block XXIII prospects, starting with Piedra
Candela, and potentially sell the tested gas under a pilot program
to the local communities. The Company is in preliminary
discussions with a local compressed natural gas (CNG) distributor
to establish terms of the transaction, including sales volumes and
pricing. Additional appraisal wells could be included in the
long term testing program. The Company has already received
the long term gas testing permit.
This is the first time that the Mancora
formation has tested gas onshore. Offshore, the Mancora
formation tested gas from the C-18X well drilled by a previous
operator in the Piedra Redonda field at Block Z-1. This well
is approximately 26 miles from the Piedra Candela 3X well. In
addition, between the Piedra Candela and Piedra Redonda discovery
gas wells, logs from several onshore exploration wells drilled by
prior operators in Block XXIII had strong evidence of gas pay in
the same Mancora formation, which could potentially define a
regional Mancora gas play. A 2010 report prepared by
Netherland, and Sewell & Associates, Inc. provided an
assessment based on SPE guidelines, that prospective gas resources
could exceed 5 trillion cubic feet (TCF) in the Mancora gas
play.
While the Company continues to explore and
appraise the Mancora gas play which will require additional wells
and studies, the Company is also reviewing other avenues for larger
scale commerciality from development of current and future onshore
gas discoveries. This could include revenue and cash flow
from broader CNG sales, micro or mini LNG projects, the Company's
previously announced gas to power project, a future Peruvian
northern gas pipeline project being promoted by the Government, and
gas exports to Ecuador.
Furthermore, the Company continues to work on
the environmental permits to also be able to drill the Eocene oil
prospects mapped in the southern section of Block XXIII, which is
also found below the Mancora formation in Piedra Redonda.
Manolo Zuniga, President and CEO
commented, "We are excited about the progress being made
with our onshore exploration program at Block XXIII, including our
potential future first gas sales, which could provide economic
benefit while we continue testing these discoveries. Block
XXIII results are also encouraging with respect to what we may find
at our bordering Block XIX, where we plan on acquiring additional
3D seismic, as well as Piedra Redonda, which has already tested gas
and could also contain oil below.
This activity onshore further defines our
regional gas strategy, potentially anchored by the Block Z-1
Corvina gas to power project. Development of these gas
projects will provide the needed local and export markets for our
prospective gas potential, while helping meet the energy needs of
the local communities in the region. Commercialization of the
gas onshore and offshore would also provide us the ability to book
gas reserves and obtain additional cash flow."
ABOUT BPZ ENERGY
BPZ Energy is an independent oil and gas
exploration and production company with license contracts covering
1.9 million net acres in four blocks located in northwest
Peru. Current operations in these blocks range from
early-stage exploration to production. The Company holds a
51% working interest in offshore Block Z-1, where development
drilling is currently underway at the Corvina and Albacora
fields. Onshore, the Company holds 100% working interests in
Blocks XIX, XXII and XXIII which total 1.6 million acres. In
southwest Ecuador, the Company owns a non-operating net profits
interest in a producing property. BPZ Energy trades as BPZ
Resources, Inc. on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Bolsa
de Valores in Lima under ticker symbol "BPZ". Please visit
www.bpzenergy.com for more
information.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT
This Press Release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward
looking statements are based on our current expectations about our
company, our properties, our estimates of required capital
expenditures and our industry. You can identify these
forward-looking statements when you see us using words such as
"will," "expected," "estimated," and "prospective," and other
similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties.
Our actual results could differ materially from
those anticipated in these forward looking statements. Such
uncertainties include successful operation of our new platform in
Corvina, the success of our project financing efforts, accuracy of
well test results, results of seismic testing, well refurbishment
efforts, successful production of indicated reserves, satisfaction
of well test period requirements, successful installation of
required permanent processing facilities, receipt of all required
permits, the successful management of our capital expenditures, and
other normal business risks. We undertake no obligation to
publicly update any forward-looking statements for any reason, even
if new information becomes available or other events occur in the
future.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING CERTAIN
INFORMATION RELEASES
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC,
to disclose only "reserves" that a company anticipates to be
economically producible by application of development projects to
known accumulations, and there exists or is a reasonable
expectation there will exist, the legal right to produce, or a
revenue interest in the production, installed means of delivering
oil and gas or related substances to market, and all permits and
financing required to implement the project. We are prohibited from
disclosing estimates of oil and gas resources that do not
constitute "reserves" in our SEC filings, including any estimates
of prospective resources included in this press release.
We may use certain terms in this press release such as
"prospective" resources which imply the existence of quantities of
resources which the SEC guidelines strictly prohibit U.S. publicly
registered companies from including in reported reserves in their
filings with the SEC. With respect to "probable" and
"possible" reserves, we are required to disclose the relative
uncertainty of such classifications of reserves when they are
included in our SEC filings. The definition of prospective
resources has been excerpted from the Petroleum Resources
Management System approved by the Society of Petroleum Engineers
(SPE) Board of Directors, March 2007. Prospective resources
are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to
be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by
application of future development projects. Prospective
resources have both an associated chance of discovery and a chance
of development. Prospective resources are further subdivided
in accordance with the level of certainty associated with
recoverable estimates assuming their discovery and development and
may be sub-classified based on project maturity. Further, the
reserves estimates contained in this press release are not designed
to be, nor are they intended to represent, an estimate of the fair
market value of the reserves.
The Company is aware that certain information
concerning its operations and production is available from time to
time from Perupetro, an instrumentality of the Peruvian government,
and the Ministry of Energy and Mines ("MEM"), a ministry of the
government of Peru. This information is available from the
websites of Perupetro and MEM and may be available from other
official sources of which the Company is unaware. This
information is published by Perupetro and MEM outside the control
of the Company and may be published in a format different from the
format used by the Company to disclose such information, in
compliance with SEC and other U.S. regulatory requirements.
Additionally, the Company's joint venture
partner in Block Z-1, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. ("PRE"), is a
Canadian public company that is not listed on a U.S. stock
exchange, but is listed on the Toronto (TSX), Bolsa de Valores de
Colombia (BVC) and BOVESPA stock exchanges. As such PRE may
be subject to different information disclosure requirements than
the Company. Information concerning the Company, such as
information concerning energy reserves, may be published by PRE
outside of our control and may be published in a format different
from the format the Company uses to disclose such information,
incompliance with SEC and other U.S. regulatory requirements.
The Company provides such information in the
format required, and at the times required, by the SEC and as
determined to be both material and relevant by management of the
Company. The Company urges interested investors and third
parties to consider closely the disclosure in our SEC filings,
available from us at 580 Westlake Park Blvd., Suite 525, Houston,
Texas 77079; Telephone: (281) 556-6200. These filings can
also be obtained from the SEC via the internet at www.sec.gov.
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CONTACT: A. Pierre Dubois
Director, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
BPZ Energy
1-281-752-1240
pierre_dubois@bpzenergy.com
