Harvest Strikes Oil Offshore Gabon

Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. today announced that it has encountered oil in the wildcat well Dussafu Ruche Marin-1 (DRM-1) drilled in the Dussafu Marin PSC, in the offshore waters of Gabon, West Africa. Harvest operates the Dussafu PSC, holding a 66.667 percent interest. The well was spudded on April 28 and is being drilled to test the potential of the pre-salt Gamba and Dentale Formations.

Drilled with the Transocean Sedneth 701 semi-submersible drilling unit in 380 feet of water, the DRM-1 well has reached a vertical depth of 9,953 feet within the Upper Dentale Formation. Log evaluation, pressure data and samples indicate that Harvest has discovered approximately 55 feet of pay in a 90 foot oil column within its primary objective, the Gamba Formation.

Additional technical evaluation will be required to appraise this Gamba discovery. Forward plans include deepening the well to test Middle and Lower Dentale exploration potential and sidetracking to appraise the extent of the Gamba oil discovery.

Harvest will provide an update on the drilling operations in due course.

About 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, West Africa, China and Oman and business development offices in Singapore and the United Kingdom.

[mappress]
Source: Harvest, June 13, 2011; Image: