| November 26, 2009 |
| Heritage Oil Commences Drilling the Miran West-2 Appraisal Well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq |
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Nov. 26, 2009) -
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Heritage Oil Plc (TSX:HOC)(LSE:HOIL), an independent upstream exploration and production company, announces that it has commenced drilling the Miran West-2 appraisal well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ("Kurdistan").
Highlights
- The Miran West-2 well has commenced drilling and is an appraisal well to the Miran West-1 discovery.
- The well targets the three principal Cretaceous reservoir formations encountered in the Miran West-1 well.
- It is expected to take approximately four months to drill.
- Miran West-2 begins a multi-well exploration and appraisal drilling programme on the Miran Block.
- The Miran West structure is one of the larger structures in Kurdistan, with an areal extent of approximately 200 square kilometres, and could contain up to four billion barrels of oil in place.
Drilling of the Miran West-2 well has commenced. The well is planned to appraise the reservoir sections encountered in the Miran West-1 discovery well, whilst minimising the risk of formation damage. This appraisal location, approximately four kilometres northwest from the Miran West-1 discovery well has been selected to optimally test the reservoir intervals whilst further enhancing knowledge of the structure and associated fracturing. The Miran West-2 well is scheduled to take approximately four months to drill and targets the three principal Cretaceous reservoir formations in the Miran West-1 well, where a 700 metre oil column was encountered.
Miran West-2 is the first well in a planned multi-well drilling programme on the Miran Block which includes an exploration well on the Miran East structure.
The Miran Block contains two large structures, Miran West and Miran East, which have been mapped from the 332 kilometres of excellent quality seismic data acquired by Heritage in the second quarter of 2008. Testing of the Miran West-1 discovery well concluded in August 2009, with a constrained flow rate of 3,640 bopd from one horizon due to formation damage in the lower reservoirs. It was estimated that the well has an estimated production potential of between 8,000 and 10,000 bopd.
Tony Buckingham, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"The spudding of Miran West-2 launches an active twelve month exploration and appraisal drilling programme in Kurdistan. We learned a great deal from the Miran West-1 well and believe this well will be drilled in an optimal way. There is also further upside potential with the neighbouring Miran East structure, scheduled to be drilled in 2010, which together with Miran West has an area of approximately 330 square kilometres. Our previous discovery has highlighted the prospectivity of the Miran Block, which potentially contains billions of barrels of oil and has the capability to deliver significant value for Heritage."
Heritage Energy Middle East, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heritage, is operator and holds a 75% interest in the Miran Block and Genel Energy International Limited the remaining 25%, although there are third party back-in rights. The Miran Block has an area of 1,015 square kilometres and is located west of the city of Suleimaniah.
Notes to Editors
- Heritage is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The trading symbol is HOIL. Heritage has a further listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:HOC).
- Heritage is an independent upstream exploration and production company engaged in the exploration for, and the development, production and acquisition of, oil and gas in its core areas of Africa, the Middle East and Russia.
- Heritage has a producing property in Russia and exploration projects in Uganda, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malta, Pakistan, Tanzania and Mali.
- For further information please refer to our website, www.heritageoilplc.com.
If you would prefer to receive press releases via email please contact Lindsay Carpenter (lindsay@chfir.com) and specify "Heritage press releases" in the subject line.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:
Except for statements of historical fact, all statements in this news release - including, without limitation, statements regarding production estimates and future plans and objectives of Heritage - constitute forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties such as: risks relating to estimates of reserves and recoveries; production and operating cost assumptions; development risks and costs; the risk of commodity price fluctuations; political and regulatory risks; and other risks and uncertainties as disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in its Prospectus and elsewhere in Heritage documents filed from time-to-time with the London Stock Exchange and other regulatory authorities. Further, any forward-looking information is made only as of a certain date and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management of the Company to predict all of these factors and to assess in advance the impact of each such factor on the Company's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking information. | |