Harvest Natural
Resources Provides Additional Test Results of the Bar F 1-20-3-2 Well
HOUSTON, March 30, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ -- Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:
HNR) today announced further results from the flow testing of the Bar F
1-20-3-2 well in Duchesne County, Utah. Harvest had provided initial
preliminary flow test results during the Company's earnings release
conference call on March 16, 2010.
Since the last update, Harvest has completed drilling out plugs
installed to isolate the six hydraulically fractured oil intervals, and
commenced a flow test of the commingled six intervals between 8,200 and 9,600
feet in the Lower Green River and Upper Wasatch formations. The testing
program yielded first oil to surface on March 24, 2010, and the well has
produced over 4,000 barrels of approximately 42 degree API oil over the first
five days of production through March 29, 2010. These production volumes have
been achieved as the well is cleaning up, producing load water pumped into
the well during the fracing process. The testing is at a current stable
production rate of approximately 900 barrels of oil per day and 650 mcf of
natural gas per day with a flowing surface pressure of approximately 1,400
psi. The testing program is expected to continue for another one to two weeks.
Harvest President and CEO James Edmiston said, "We believe
that the results achieved in the Bar F testing program to date indicate a
high likelihood that we have made a commercial oil discovery in the Bar F
well, and we are excited about the potential growth opportunity that this
brings to Harvest in the Uintah Basin. We expect to put the Bar F on
production as soon as necessary surface facilities and gas flowline
construction work can be completed. We believe that these results indicate
that a significant portion of Harvest's 65,000 acres (39,000 acres net to
Harvest) land position in the Basin is prospective for appraisal and
potentially development drilling targeting the intervals tested in the Bar F
well. We are moving forward with planning and preparations for a flexible
multi-well follow-up drilling program that we hope to commence in the second
half of 2010."
As previously disclosed, Harvest's 2010 capital budget provides
for contingent funding of up to $33.0 million net for a delineation and
development program based on success in the Bar F.
About Harvest Natural Resources
Harvest Natural Resources,
Inc. headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an independent energy company
with principal operations in Venezuela,
producing and exploration assets in the United States,
exploration assets in Indonesia, West Africa, China and Oman and business
development offices in Singapore and the United Kingdom. For more information
visit the Company's website at http://www.harvestnr.com.
This press release may contain projections and other
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934. They include estimates and timing of expected oil and gas production,
oil and gas reserve projections of future oil pricing, future expenses,
planned capital expenditures, anticipated cash flow and our business
strategy. All statements other than statements of historical facts may
constitute forward-looking statements. Although Harvest believes that the
expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it
can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct.
Actual results may differ materially from Harvest's expectations as a result
of factors discussed in Harvest's 2009 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other
public filings.
CONTACT:
Stephen C. Haynes
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
(281) 899-5716
SOURCE Harvest Natural Resources, Inc.