RNS Number : 6554H
  Petrolatina Energy PLC
  07 November 2008
   

    Friday 7 November 2008
    PetroLatina Energy Plc
    ("PetroLatina" or the "Company")

    Operations Update

    New drilling campaign to commence this month

    Petrolatina (AIM: PELE), the oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Latin America, announces the following
operational update.  

    At the Company's 2008 Annual General Meeting held on 5 August, PetroLatina set itself the ambitious target of spudding the first well in
a new drilling campaign within 100 days. That well is now expected to spud by 25 November, within days of that target.

    Average production net to the Company was 280 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") for the six months ended 30 June 2008 and 183 bopd during
the third quarter 2008.  The decline was primarily due to the new conditions of the Tisquirama License under the extension, and to
production suspensions in the month of September to carry out maintenance works in Santa Luc?and Pressure Build Up Tests in Los �ngeles. 
Estimated gross production for the year remains at approximately 301,700 barrels of oil in line with the initial 2008 production forecasts.

    Capital expenditure for the second half of 2008 to date has been $10.7 million, funded from the investment made by Tribeca Oil and Gas
Inc. earlier this year and cash flows generated from production. Expenditure has included investments to acquire approximately 203 square
kilometres of new 3D seismic over a number of PetroLatina's licence areas in Colombia and preparation for drilling the first well of the
drilling campaign.

    The budgeted $36 million of capital expenditure for the remainder of this year and 2009, will be directed primarily at completing a
twelve well drill programme designed to increase production and book further reserves from the Company's existing assets in Colombia, in the
near-term. 

    La Paloma

    The Company continued its preparations for the commencement of drilling Col?, the first exploratory well to be drilled on the La Paloma
block and is pleased to announce that the required rig is now in Colombia. The Company is currently in the process of mobilising the rig to
the actual well location and expects the rig to be initated by the end of this week, with the well to be spudded by 25 November 2008.
Drilling is scheduled to take 25 days at a cost of approximately $6 million.

    The Col? well is expected to be drilled vertically to a total depth of approximately 9,072 feet to test the La Paz, Lisama and Umir
formations. The Company retains an 80 per cent. working interest in the Col? well and is the operator.

    Additionally, the Company has completed 54 square kilometres of new 3D seismic data over the block during October 2008. Processing and
interpretation of the data is underway and the results are expected to be available at the end of January 2009.

    The Company believes that the Col?rospect has possible recoverable reserves of up to 19.8 million barrels of oil.

    Santa Lucia

    The Company completed 76 square kilometres of new 3D seismic data over the Santa Lucia field in September 2008. Processing and
interpretation of this data is underway and the results are expected to be available at the end of January 2009.

    Los �ngeles

    The Company has reprocessed 45 square kilometres of 3D seismic data over the Los Angeles field, yet to be interpreted, and has initated
a petrophysic study of all the wells. This study has been initiated with the expectation of identifying additional well locations which are
intended to be constructed and drilled during 2009.

    Midas

    The planned acquisition of 47 square kilometres of new 3D seismic over the Midas field has been completed on schedule and has been sent
for processing and interpretation.  Initial indications are that the data collected is generally of very high quality.  It is expected that
the results of this data will be released by the end of the year.  The Company expects to identify locations for two wells with one of them
proposed to be constructed and subsequently drilled or spudded during 2009 at a cost of approximately $4.6 million and a drilling period of
26 to 28 days.

    Gaita

    The Company completed interpretation of 26 square kilometres of 3D seismic data over the Gaita field.  No drillable prospects were
identified, and as a consequence the Company returned the block to ANH, the Colombian National Hydrocarbons Agency in October 2008.

    Serafin Gas Development

    PetroLatina still awaits the legal clearance required to bring the Serafin gas well into production and hopes to receive this clearance
before the end of 2008. Well �1 was worked over in January 2007 and tested at flow rates of 14 million cubic feet of gas per day. Gross
reserves are estimated at between 5 and 6 billion cubic feet of gas in place.  Commercial gas sales are currently expected to commence in
the second quarter of 2009.


    Juan Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of PetroLatina, commented:

    "PetroLatina is poised to commence the first well in its new drill programme which should enable us to significantly increase production
and booked reserves."

    "To contract and mobilise a rig, complete all the preparations and spud the first well in the programme in around 100 days from outset
is a commendable achievement and testament to the high quality of our operational team in Colombia.  We have now established a firm base
from which to accelerate significantly our rate of progress."

    
Enquiries:

 PetroLatina Energy Plc
 Juan Carlos Rodriguez, Chief Executive Officer       Tel: +57 1627 8435 
 Sebastien Garnier, Chief Financial Officer           Tel: + 44 7525 009616
 Pawan Sharma, Executive Vice President - Corporate   Tel: +44 (0)207 956 2821
 Affairs

 Strand Partners Limited
 Simon Raggett / Matthew Chandler                     Tel: +44 (0)20 7409 3494

 Financial Dynamics
 Ben Brewerton / Susan Quigley                        Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113

    Additional Information on PetroLatina Energy Plc:
    PetroLatina Energy Plc (AIM: PELE), formerly known as Taghmen Energy Plc, was founded in 2004. The Company is presently focused on
Colombia after the sale of its assets in Guatemala in which it retains a 20% interest in the first three wells and a 20% working interest in
future wells. In Colombia, the Company holds 40% and 20% interests in the Los Angeles and Santa Luc?fields on the Tisquirama licence,
respectively, and a 100% interest in the Do?ar?field. In November 2007 the Company secured the extension of the Tisquirama licence for the
economic life of the fields. In April 2006 the Group acquired an interest in two exploration blocks with an 85% interest in Midas and an 80%
interest in La Paloma. PetroLatina also owns the R?Zulia-Ayacucho pipeline in the prolific Catatumbo basin which transports crude oil.
Present exploration/exploitation activities in this area should increase the volume of the crude oil resulting in an increased cash flow.
Further information is available on the Company's website (www.petrolatinaenergy.com).


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
  END 
 
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