Houston, March 2, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BPZ
Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BPZ) (BVL: BPZ) today announced that it
will exercise a provision under the bond indenture for the 6.5%
Convertible Notes due March 1, 2015 with an outstanding principal
amount of $60 million ("collectively, the Notes"), whereby the
Company will avail itself of the 10-day grace period provided for
in the Indenture on principal and a 30-day grace period on interest
due for a total amount due of approximately $62 million. Once
exercised, the grace periods will expire on March 10, 2015 for
principal and March 30, 2015 for interest.
The Company is engaged in discussions with
representatives of certain holders of the Notes of the Company's
Convertible Bonds issued with combined outstanding principal
amounts of $229 million, maturing March 1, 2015 and October 1,
2017. These discussions include among other items, the
potential terms under which one or both bond issues could be
restructured to provide a capital structure which would allow the
Company to continue developing its oil and gas assets.
Discussions are also underway with other potential investors
regarding alternative financing solutions.
While the Company is reviewing several options,
an appropriate solution may not be found during the grace
period. If the Company does not make the payment due on the
2015 Notes and a resolution cannot be reached by the end of the
grace period, the Company would be in default under the terms of
the 2015 Indenture. This action would result in
cross-defaults to the 2017 Convertible Bond issue, and could force
the Company to seek Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection, which is
designed to provide protection from creditors while a company seeks
restructuring and financing solutions to enable it to remain an
economically viable business.
ABOUT BPZ ENERGY
BPZ Energy, which trades as BPZ Resources, Inc.
under ticker symbol BPZ on the New York Stock Exchange and the
Bolsa de Valores in Lima, is an independent oil and gas exploration
and production company which has license contracts covering
approximately 1.9 million net acres in offshore and onshore
Peru. The Company holds a 51% working interest in offshore
Block Z-1, which it is developing in partnership with Pacific
Rubiales Energy Corp. The Company also holds 100% working
interests in three onshore blocks. 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: the availability and access, in general, of
funds to meet principal and interest payment obligations under our
debt and to fund our operations and necessary capital expenditures,
either through cash on hand, cash flows from operating activities,
further borrowings and alternative financing sources and, in
particular, our ability to fund debt obligations; the outcome of
our discussions with certain note holders regarding restructuring
our bonds; our ability to comply with all covenants in our
indentures, any violation of which, if not cured in a timely
manner, could trigger a default of our other obligations under
cross-default provisions; our ability to repay debt prior to
or when it becomes due and/or successfully access the capital or
credit markets to refinance that debt through new issuances,
exchange offers or otherwise, including restructuring our balance
sheet and leverage position, especially given recent volatility and
disruption in the oil and gas industry; 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 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
