HOUSTON, Dec. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --� Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE: HNR) provided an update on its exploration drilling operations regarding its Qarn Alam Block 64 located onshore Oman and its Indonesia Budong-Budong Block located onshore West Sulawesi.
Oman Block 64 EPSA
Harvest announced today commencement of drilling operations of the Al Ghubar North�A (AGN-A) exploration well on the Qarn Alam Block 64, onshore Oman.� This is the second of a two-well exploratory program utilizing the MB Petroleum Services LLC Rig #113 drilling unit.�
The AGN-A well will test the Al Ghubar North structure, which is a large salt-supported high with stacked reservoir targets in the Barik, Miqrat and Amin reservoirs.� The targets are 10 miles to the east and updip from the producing Barik field.� Mean prospective resources of 960 Bcf of gas and 54 MMbbls of condensate in the Barik and 241 Bcf of gas in the Miqrat formation have been calculated by Harvest.� The geological chance of success for a discovery in this well is estimated by Harvest to be 23 percent.� The AGN-A well will be drilled to a total vertical depth of approximately 10,300 feet to test coincident fault bounded dip closure at all three reservoir levels.� Dry hole cost for the AGN-A well is $8.1 million.
Harvest has an 80 percent interest in Block 64 onshore Oman.� Block 64 has an area of 3,874 square kilometers and was extracted from a pre-existing block (PDO's Block 6) to accelerate exploration for gas and gas condensate by the Omani Ministry of Oil and Gas.
Indonesia - Budong-Budong Block, West Sulawesi
Harvest also announced today the KD-1 exploration well, which spud on June 20, 2011, drilled onshore Sulawesi, has reached a total depth of 14,437 feet measured depth (13,576 feet true vertical depth).� The well is currently being logged and evaluated.
The KD-1 well is the second of two planned exploration wells located in the Budong-Budong Block onshore West Sulawesi.� Harvest owns a 64.4 percent non-operated working interest in the Budong-Budong Block PSC.
About Harvest Natural Resources
Harvest Natural Resources, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an independent energy company with principal operations in Venezuela, with exploration assets in Indonesia, Gabon, China and Oman and business development offices in Singapore and the United Kingdom.� For more information visit the Company's website at www.harvestnr.com.�
CONTACT:
Stephen C. Haynes
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
(281) 899-5716
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 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other public filings.
Harvest may use certain terms such as resource base, contingent resources, prospective resources, probable reserves, possible reserves, non-proved reserves or other descriptions of volumes of reserves.� These estimates are by their nature more speculative than estimates of proved reserves and accordingly, are subject to substantially greater risk of being actually realized by the Company.�
SOURCE Harvest Natural Resources, Inc.