HOUSTON, May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harvest Natural Resources, Inc.
(NYSE: HNR) today announced it entered into an area of mutual interest (AMI)
with a private company to explore and develop oil and natural gas along the
Texas and Louisiana Upper Gulf Coast. The AMI, including state waters,
stretches from Nueces County, Texas to Cameron Parish, Louisiana and includes
approximately 40 counties. Harvest will fund the first $20 million of new
lease acquisitions, G&G studies, seismic reprocessing and drilling costs.
Harvest has a 55 percent operated interest within the AMI and will provide
drilling, engineering and operational expertise. The private company has
contributed two prospects, including the leases and proprietary 3-D data sets,
and numerous leads generated over the last three decades of regional
geological focus.
The AMI was developed to explore for natural gas including the deeper
Frio, Vicksburg and Yegua plays using the private company's regional knowledge
and ongoing prospect generation capability followed by extensive prospect
review by Harvest and Fusion Geophysical L.L.C.'s technical geophysical staff.
Harvest President and Chief executive Officer, James A. Edmiston, said,
"The identified prospects in the AMI provide Harvest with exposure to
near-term exploration drilling and a chain of follow -- on potential
opportunities for the exploration of natural gas including deeper plays in the
U.S. Gulf Coast. The program exposes Harvest to significant near-term value
potential and diversification due to the strong U.S. natural gas market and
short cycle time from discovery to production, relative to our international
operations. The first prospect is located in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana where
an exploration well will be drilled beginning early in the third quarter of
this year. The second prospect area is in a transition zone where multiple
leads with significant resource potential have been identified."
Edmiston continued, "Our private company partners have a track record that
is second to none in the Texas Gulf Coast and East Texas area. Their
geological team includes John Amoruso, Denny Bartell and Larry Bartell. This
team's most recent discovery is the giant Amoruso field (Deep Bossier, East
Texas), discovered in 2005, which is viewed by many in the industry as one of
the most significant onshore natural gas discoveries in the continental United
States in the past decade or more. We at Harvest are extremely pleased to be
working alongside such an accomplished and seasoned team of explorers."
Harvest Natural Resources
Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an
independent energy company with principal operations in Venezuela, exploration
assets in the United States, Indonesia, Gabon and China 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 2007 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other public filings."
SOURCE Harvest Natural Resources, Inc.