Pacific Rubiales Sees 55% Increase in Prospective Resources

Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. announced Monday the results of an independent resource assessment for certain of the Company's exploration blocks in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Guyana, Guatemala and Papua New Guinea (PNG). The 2012 resource assessment was prepared by Petrotech Engineering Ltd. with an effective date of September 30, 2012.

The 2012 Resource Report shows that the best case estimate of total gross Prospective Resources attributed to the Company has grown to 4.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Bboe) from 2.8 Bboe in 2011, and the best case estimate of total gross Contingent Resources has grown to 168 MMboe from just 4 MMboe booked in 2011.

"We look at the 2012 Resource Report as a clear demonstration of the Company's strategy to increase its resources using strategic acquisitions of exploration opportunities in selected countries where we see a balance of above- and below-ground risk.  Resources drive future reserves which in turn represent the future production of the Company," Jose Francisco Arata, president of the Company, commented.

Highlights on the best case estimates of total gross Prospective Resources and total best case Contingent Resources (see the heading below entitled "Resources" for further information) from the 2012 Resource Report include:

4,291 MMboe of total gross Prospective Resources (prospects plus leads), an increase of 55 percent from 2,774 MMboe in 2011.The total gross Prospective Resources are contained in 123 opportunities (74 prospects and 49 leads) on 40 assessed blocks in six countries.The total gross Prospective Resources are estimated to include 3,520 MMbbl of oil and natural gas liquids (82%), and 4.5 Tcf (772 MMboe) of natural gas (18%).1,302 MMboe of the total gross Prospective Resources are in prospects (30%), an increase of 226 percent from 399 MMboe in 2011, largely reflecting new exploration blocks acquired in 2012 and successful exploration drilling.2,989 MMboe of the total gross Prospective Resources are in leads (70%), a 26 percent increase from 2,375 MMboe in 2011, largely reflecting new exploration blocks acquired in 2012 and new leads defined on seismic surveys.46 percent of the total gross Prospective Resources are in Colombia, 41% in Peru, 9% in Brazil, 3% in Guyana, and the remainder are in Guatemala and Papua New Guinea .168 MMboe of total gross Contingent Resources, up substantially from 4 MMboe in 2011, mainly due to acquisitions and advancement from Prospective Resources through successful exploration drilling.Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

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Pacific Rubiales Farms-In to Bilby Well Offshore Brazil

Pacific Rubiales Energy has exercised its option to acquire a 35-percent interest in Block S-M-1166 located in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. The block is held by Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. (Karoon) and Pacific will exercise its right to acquire a stake through the funding and participation in the Bilby-1 exploration well.

This marks the third exploration well within the Karoon blocks that Pacific has participated in, following the Kangaroo-1 and Emu-1 wells.

As for the Bilby-1 well, Pacific will complete the minimum work commitments required to retain a stake in all five blocks (S-M-1037, -1101, -1102, -1165 and -1166) and request operatorship of the project. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

"Although we are in early exploration stages, we are pleased with the results to date and our partnership with Karoon," said Ronald Pantin, CEO of Pacific Rubiales, in a statement. "Our first well, Kangaroo-1, discovered oil in an Eocene structure and we are looking forward to following up with an appraisal well as soon as a suitable drilling rig can be sourced and mobilized to the Kangaroo-2 location."

Karoon spud the Kangaroo well in December 2012 using the Blackford Dolphin (mid-water semisub). Currently, the rig is drilling the Emu-1 well and it is expected that Karoon will use the same rig to drill the Bilby-1 well.

The Emu-1 well in the Santos Basin reached total depth with initial wireline results showing the main objective to be water bearing, said Tudor Pickering & Holt in a March 28 analyst report.

"It does not change our view on geological chance of success in the basin."

It is estimated that Bilby, situated in a water depth of 1,320 feet, contains a potentially significant sized Eocene accumulation with multiple targets at several geological levels, including the Santonian, Campanian, Maestrichtian, Eocene and Miocene. The well is expected to reach total depth in 2Q.

Karoon currently holds 100 percent interest in the Santos Basin Blocks.

With more than 10 years of journalism experience, Robin Dupre specializes in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. Email Robin at rdupre@rigzone.com.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
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Pacific Rubiales Farms-In to Bilby Well Offshore Brazil

Pacific Rubiales Energy has exercised its option to acquire a 35-percent interest in Block S-M-1166 located in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. The block is held by Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. (Karoon) and Pacific will exercise its right to acquire a stake through the funding and participation in the Bilby-1 exploration well.

This marks the third exploration well within the Karoon blocks that Pacific has participated in, following the Kangaroo-1 and Emu-1 wells.

As for the Bilby-1 well, Pacific will complete the minimum work commitments required to retain a stake in all five blocks (S-M-1037, -1101, -1102, -1165 and -1166) and request operatorship of the project. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

"Although we are in early exploration stages, we are pleased with the results to date and our partnership with Karoon," said Ronald Pantin, CEO of Pacific Rubiales, in a statement. "Our first well, Kangaroo-1, discovered oil in an Eocene structure and we are looking forward to following up with an appraisal well as soon as a suitable drilling rig can be sourced and mobilized to the Kangaroo-2 location."

Karoon spud the Kangaroo well in December 2012 using the Blackford Dolphin (mid-water semisub). Currently, the rig is drilling the Emu-1 well and it is expected that Karoon will use the same rig to drill the Bilby-1 well.

The Emu-1 well in the Santos Basin reached total depth with initial wireline results showing the main objective to be water bearing, said Tudor Pickering & Holt in a March 28 analyst report.

"It does not change our view on geological chance of success in the basin."

It is estimated that Bilby, situated in a water depth of 1,320 feet, contains a potentially significant sized Eocene accumulation with multiple targets at several geological levels, including the Santonian, Campanian, Maestrichtian, Eocene and Miocene. The well is expected to reach total depth in 2Q.

Karoon currently holds 100 percent interest in the Santos Basin Blocks.

With more than 10 years of journalism experience, Robin Dupre specializes in the offshore sector of the oil and gas industry. Email Robin at rdupre@rigzone.com.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
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RigLogix can provide the information that you need about the offshore rig fleet, whether you need utilization and industry trends or detailed reports on future rig contracts. Subscribing to RigLogix will allow you to access dozens of prebuilt reports and build your own custom reports using hundreds of available data columns. For more information about a RigLogix subscription, visit http://www.riglogix.com/.

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InterOil Finalizes PNG Farm-In Deal with Pacific Rubiales

InterOil Corporation announced that it has completed the farm-in transaction with Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. relating to its acquisition of a 10% net (12.9% gross) participating interest in Petroleum Prospecting License 237 (PPL 237) onshore Papua New Guinea, including the Triceratops structure and exploration acreage located within that license. This announcement is made to confirm completion of the Farm-In Agreement with PRE announced July 30, 2012.

On March 23, 2013, PRE funded the final payment of approximately $55 million under the Farm-In Agreement. Together with previous payments PRE has funded the full $116 million cash payment due under the Farm-in Agreement. Additional payments of PRE's drilling costs for the Triceratops-2 well are scheduled to be paid in the coming months.

"InterOil is pleased to have completed the Farm-In Transaction with Pacific Rubiales, a company with a track record of successful exploration and production development," stated Phil Mulacek, Chief Executive Officer of InterOil. "We look forward to appraisal and development of the Triceratops gas and condensate field with our partners."

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

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Pacific Rubiales Receives Environmental OK for Quifa Expansion

Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. announced that the environmental permits for expansion activities in the Quifa Hydrocarbon Exploitation Area, southern Llanos basin onshore Colombia, have been granted by the Autoridad Nacional de Licencias Ambientales (ANLA).

The Quifa Hydrocarbon Exploitation Area covers both the Quifa SW producing oil field as well as the Quifa East Exploration Area surrounding the Rubiales Field on the north, east and west of the contract. Total gross field production at Quifa SW is currently 54 MMbopd from over 170 wells and is the Company's second largest producing oil field. The Company holds a 60% working interest in the Quifa area, while Ecopetrol S.A. holds the remaining interest.

These environmental permits will allow Pacific Rubiales to further develop the Quifa SW field and explore and develop the Quifa East Exploration Area, by authorizing the following activities:

Construction of 120 clusters to drill up to 960 production wells.Construction and operation of a new central production facility ("CPF"), as well as the construction of seven injection pads to increase water disposal capacity.Construction and operation of two electrical sub-stations to supply electricity from the Company's new power transmission line, currently under construction (Petroelectrica de los Llanos Project).Construction of five campsites for operations personnel, with all associated services.Construction of trunk and flowlines for infield transportation.

Ronald Pantin, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented: "We are very excited about receiving this important permit which will allow the Company to expand Quifa SW production in the near term to a plateau rate of approximately 60 Mbbl/d (total gross field production), achieve cost optimizations, and advance our exploration campaign in the Quifa East Area, converting resources into reserves and adding additional production over time. We also recognize and support the efforts that the ANLA has made to enhance and speed up the process of grating licenses to the Oil Industry in Colombia."

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Pacific Energy Reports Initial Production Rate at Niobrara Well

Pacific Energy Development announced that its second horizontal well, the Waves 1H well, located in Weld County, Colorado, has tested at an initial production rate of 528 barrels of oil per day and 588 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) (360 mcfgpd) from the Niobrara "B" Bench target zone. The well is operated by the Company's joint venture partner, Condor Energy Technology LLC (Condor). Condor spud the Waves 1H well Nov. 19, 2012 and drilled to 11,114 feet measured depth (6,200 true vertical foot depth) in eight days. The 4,339 foot lateral section was completed in 18 stages Feb. 1, 2013.

Condor's first horizontal well in Weld County, Colorado, the FFT2H well, tested at an initial production rate of 437 boepd from the Niobrara "B" Bench target zone. This first well was spudded in April 2012 and drilled to a total combined vertical and horizontal depth of 11,307 feet, with completion operations concluding in July 2012.

On November 30, 2012, Condor spudded its third horizontal well, the Logan 2H well, in Weld County, Colorado. Drilling of the well was completed Dec. 8, 2012, to a true vertical depth of approximately 6,150 feet, and a total horizontal length of approximately 6,350 feet in the Niobrara "B" Bench target zone. Condor completed hydraulic fracturing operations on this well in January 2013, and plans to finish completion operations and commence flow testing in mid-February 2013.

Frank C. Ingriselli, the Company's President and CEO commented, "We are pleased to be able to execute on our 2013 development program in the Niobrara formation, and are encouraged that the knowledge we gained from drilling and completing our initial FFT2H well in the Niobrara formation is proving beneficial to us as we seek to drive down our drilling and completion costs, optimize our completion operations, and maximize production and resource recovery."

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Pacific Drilling Orders Eighth UDW Drillship

Pacific Drilling S.A. announced Tuesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary exercised an option to construct its eighth ultra-deepwater drillship with Samsung Heavy Industries.

"We are extremely pleased to announce the order of our eighth ultra-deepwater drillship," stated Pacific Drilling CEO Chris Beckett. "The strong market for deepwater drilling, attractive construction cost, strength of relationships with our preferred vendors, and robust operating performance of our in-service rigs support the decision to invest in the further expansion of our fleet."

The drillship will have a rated water depth of 12,000 feet, be equipped for 40,000 feet drilling depth, have accommodation for 200 personnel and be equipped to support dual gradient drilling. The total cost, excluding capitalized interest, will be approximately $620 million and delivery is scheduled for March 16, 2015. Financing for the construction of this rig is expected to be provided by a combination of cash flows from ongoing operations and long-term debt.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
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