PetroNeft All Smiles over Arbuzovskoye Production Rates

PetroNeft Resources plc, owner and operator of Licences 61 and 67, Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation, provided the following update on its operations at Licence 61.

Highlights:

Arbuzovskoye well 105 successfully completed Initial oil flow rate of 160 barrels of oil per day (bopd), with no water productionSuccessful workover restores production at Arbuzovskoye well 102 to 380 bopdRecent pressure testing of two Arbuzovskoye wells shows normal pressure declineArbuzovskoye water source well completed, planned pressure maintenance to commence shortlyTiming and location of future Arbuzovskoye wells to be determined by response to pressure maintenance programTotal production increased to 2,800 bopd

Arbuzovskoye well 105, the sixth well in the current program, has been successfully tested at an initial rate of 160 bopd with no visible water cut.

Further to last month's update, pressure testing of two wells at Arbuzovskoye was carried out which indicated that reservoir pressures are in line with expectations based on volumes produced to date. This confirmed that the rapid decline in production experienced in the Arbuzovskoye 102 well in January and February was due to a near-wellbore problem resulting from likely migration of fine grained materials that had plugged the perforations and was not due to problems with reservoir pressure. As a result an underbalanced re-perforation of the Arbuzovskoye 102 well was performed, which successfully removed the flow restrictions in the well and restored production to 380 bopd.

Following the success of this remediation procedure, other Arbuzovskoye wells are currently being examined with a view to re-perforating additional wells in the near term.

A water source well has now been drilled to supply injection water for the planned pressure maintenance program at Arbuzovskoye. Locations and timing of further production wells will be selected based on the response to the pressure maintenance program. The objective is to optimize recovery from the field and allow the pressure maintenance system time to get established. It is likely that at least three additional wells will ultimately be drilled from Arbuzovskoye Pad 1 to fully exploit the area.

Arbuzovskoye contains 2P reserves in excess of 13 million barrels of oil according to independent reserve auditors Ryder Scott and is the Company's second field being developed.

Total oil production, comprising both the Lineynoye and Arbuzovskoye oil fields has increased up to 2,800 bopd after successful completion of 105 well and re-perforation of 102 wells at Arbuzovskoye.

Dennis Francis, chief executive officer of PetroNeft Resources plc, commented:

"Development work at Arbuzovskoye has been positive this past month. Not only has the pressure testing of two wells confirmed normal pressure decline for the field in line with production, but the workover of well 102 was successful. We will now implement the planned pressure maintenance program on the field which will slow production decline and improve recoveries. A similar program was implemented at Lineynoye field where we had positive results."

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PetroNeft All Smiles over Arbuzovskoye Production Rates

PetroNeft Resources plc, owner and operator of Licences 61 and 67, Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation, provided the following update on its operations at Licence 61.

Highlights:

Arbuzovskoye well 105 successfully completed Initial oil flow rate of 160 barrels of oil per day (bopd), with no water productionSuccessful workover restores production at Arbuzovskoye well 102 to 380 bopdRecent pressure testing of two Arbuzovskoye wells shows normal pressure declineArbuzovskoye water source well completed, planned pressure maintenance to commence shortlyTiming and location of future Arbuzovskoye wells to be determined by response to pressure maintenance programTotal production increased to 2,800 bopd

Arbuzovskoye well 105, the sixth well in the current program, has been successfully tested at an initial rate of 160 bopd with no visible water cut.

Further to last month's update, pressure testing of two wells at Arbuzovskoye was carried out which indicated that reservoir pressures are in line with expectations based on volumes produced to date. This confirmed that the rapid decline in production experienced in the Arbuzovskoye 102 well in January and February was due to a near-wellbore problem resulting from likely migration of fine grained materials that had plugged the perforations and was not due to problems with reservoir pressure. As a result an underbalanced re-perforation of the Arbuzovskoye 102 well was performed, which successfully removed the flow restrictions in the well and restored production to 380 bopd.

Following the success of this remediation procedure, other Arbuzovskoye wells are currently being examined with a view to re-perforating additional wells in the near term.

A water source well has now been drilled to supply injection water for the planned pressure maintenance program at Arbuzovskoye. Locations and timing of further production wells will be selected based on the response to the pressure maintenance program. The objective is to optimize recovery from the field and allow the pressure maintenance system time to get established. It is likely that at least three additional wells will ultimately be drilled from Arbuzovskoye Pad 1 to fully exploit the area.

Arbuzovskoye contains 2P reserves in excess of 13 million barrels of oil according to independent reserve auditors Ryder Scott and is the Company's second field being developed.

Total oil production, comprising both the Lineynoye and Arbuzovskoye oil fields has increased up to 2,800 bopd after successful completion of 105 well and re-perforation of 102 wells at Arbuzovskoye.

Dennis Francis, chief executive officer of PetroNeft Resources plc, commented:

"Development work at Arbuzovskoye has been positive this past month. Not only has the pressure testing of two wells confirmed normal pressure decline for the field in line with production, but the workover of well 102 was successful. We will now implement the planned pressure maintenance program on the field which will slow production decline and improve recoveries. A similar program was implemented at Lineynoye field where we had positive results."

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Chevron All Smiles over St. Malo Production Test in Gulf of Mexico

Chevron Corporation announced Thursday that it had conducted a successful production test on the St. Malo PS003 well in the prolific Lower Tertiary trend in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Oil flow rates, though limited by testing equipment constraints, exceeded 13,000 barrels of oil per day.

The test, in Walker Ridge Block 678, targeted Lower Tertiary sands more than 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) under the sea floor and was conducted during August and September 2012. This is the first development well in the St. Malo field, which is being jointly developed with the Jack field.

"The well test is a further demonstration of the potential of the Lower Tertiary and highlights our leadership in developing deepwater resources globally," said Chevron Vice Chairman George Kirkland.

"The results of this production test further confirm the significance of the St. Malo field," said Gary Luquette, president, Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company. "The jointly developed Jack and St. Malo fields are expected to provide a major step-up in Chevron's production from 2014 and produce domestic energy for decades to come."

The Jack and St. Malo fields are located within 25 miles (40 kilometers) of each other and are being jointly developed with a host floating production unit located between the two fields in 7,000 feet (2,134 meters) of water, approximately 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of New Orleans, Louisiana. The facility is planned to have a design capacity of 177,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day to accommodate production from the Jack/St. Malo development, which is estimated at a maximum total daily rate of 94,000 barrels of oil-equivalent, plus production from third-party tiebacks. Total project costs for the initial phase of the development are estimated at $7.5 billion.

Chevron has a working interest of 51 percent in the St. Malo field. Other owners of the St. Malo field are Petrobras (25 percent), Statoil (21.5 percent), ExxonMobil (1.25 percent) and ENI (1.25 percent).

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