(Source: PrimeNewswire)HOUSTON, Oct. 26, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BPZ Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BPZ) announced today the update of estimated oil reserves from independent reserve engineers Netherland Sewell and Associates, Inc. (NSAI) on the Company's Corvina field in offshore Block Z-1 in northwest Peru. NSAI's reserves report estimated Proved, Probable, and Possible oil reserves as of June 30, 2009 based on the definitions and guidelines set forth in the 2007 Petroleum Resources Management System approved by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). This midyear reserve report was obtained in connection with the ongoing negotiation of a reserves-based credit facility.

The combined total of Proved, Probable, and Possible reserves (commonly known as 3P reserves) in Corvina approximates 91 million barrels of oil (Mmbo), compared to the previous estimates of 81 Mmbo at year end 2008. The Proved oil-in-place increased from 97 Mmbo to 136 Mmbo, while the corresponding Proved remaining oil reserves increased from 25 to 25.3 Mmbo, after deducting the 1.6 Mmbo produced as of June 30th through the long term testing program. The estimated average ultimate oil recovery per well remained approximately the same at 1.3 million barrels for the Proved category, although increasing by 0.1 million barrels to 2.1 and 2.2 million barrels for the Probable and Possible categories, respectively.

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                                               Total     Average
                                               Number    Ultimate
                                               of Oil    Recovery
                     Oil-in-Place  Reserves    Wells     Per Well
                        (Mmbo)      (Mmbo)      (#)       (Mmbo)
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 Proved (1P)              136        25.3        21        1.3
 Proved + Probable (2P)   204        69.8        34        2.1
 Proved + Probable +
  Possible (3P)           204        90.8        42        2.2
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The Corvina oil reserves were derived from information gathered from the wells drilled to date from the CX-11 platform. The Proved reserves were based on oil-in-place found in the area directly delineated by the five oil wells drilled to date, and their corresponding three proved undeveloped locations (PUDs) per drilled oil well, as well as their production performance.