BOGOTA, COLOMBIA, Nov. 29, 2009 (Marketwire) -- Petrominerales Ltd. ("Petrominerales" or the "Company")(TSX:PMG), a 67% owned subsidiary of Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. (TSX:PBG), is pleased to announce an expanded drilling program for 2010. The program will build on our 2009 exploration successes and will be fueled by our strong cash flows from our growing production base and industry leading operating netbacks. For further detail in connection with our operational update and 2010 capital plan, please refer to our most recent corporate presentation on our website at www.petrominerales.com.
2010 Activity Highlights:
- Two rig program in Corcel and Guatiquia targeting 14 wells.
- Full year drilling program at Neiva envisions 37 wells and 21 recompletions.
- Expanded exploration activity in Llanos Plains region includes up to 13 wells (10 at Mapache).
- Heavy oil blocks will be further evaluated with three additional exploration wells.
- 432 square kilometres of 3D seismic will evaluate three blocks including our Deep Llanos Block 31.
Operational Update and 2010 Plans
Guatiquia Block
The Percheron-1 well, our first exploration well on the Guatiquia Block, commenced drilling on September 30th and reached a total depth of 12,198 feet on October 27th. Well logs indicated 51 feet of potential net oil pay in the Lower Sand 1 zone and 25 feet of potential net pay in the Lower Sand 3. The well has been cased as a potential oil well and we are currently conducting a multi-zone testing program. Multiple testing of the Lower Sand 3 zones did not yield commercial hydrocarbons. Final test results are expected by year-end. The Guatiquia Block, covering 26,349 acres, is on trend and contiguous with the southwest portion of the Corcel Block.
Candelilla-1, our second exploration well on the Guatiquia Block, commenced drilling on November 9th and has reached intermediate casing point at 11,155 feet measured depth. Targeted depth is 12,285 feet. After drilling Candelilla-1, we plan to move the rig back to Corcel to continue our multi-year drilling program, starting with Corcel-C2.
Corcel Block and Blocks 25 & 31
At Corcel, we plan to have two drilling rigs operating on the block for the majority of 2010 to drill 14 wells through the end of the year. The first rig will initially focus on the central portion of the block, where we will drill six locations in 2010, including our first horizontal well at Boa-2, follow-up locations on the Corcel C, E and A structures, the first well on the G structure, and a well (Corcel T) targeting another new geological concept. The second rig will commence drilling new prospects identified from our 2008 Corcel northeast 3D seismic program. The first well will be the Amarillo prospect, which is expected to spud in late February 2010.
We are planning to make investments in facilities at Corcel that include expanded fluid handling capacity, water injection capability and optimization of the power facilities. The next expansion of our Corcel central processing facility will be sized for 180,000 barrels of fluid handling capacity per day.
