Pacific Rubiales Provides Update on Triceratops-2 Well, PNG

Pacific Rubiales Energy provided a strategic and operational update relating to the results of the recent testing of the Triceratops-2 appraisal well where the Company holds a net 10% non-operated participating interest in the well drilling on Petroleum Prospective License 237 (PPL-237), onshore Papua New Guinea.

As announced earlier by the operator, InterOil Corporation, the Triceratops-2 well reached total depth of 2,236 metres (7,334 ft) in the Lower Limestone, and a drill stem test (DST) across a 228 meter (748 ft) open hole section in the upper reservoir zone tested 17.6 MMcf/d gas with a measured condensate liquids content of between 13.6 and 16.3 bbl per MMcf. Preliminary data from the test indicates that the upper reservoir zone in Triceratops-2 is pressure connected to the Bwata-1 well drilled 3.5 kilometers along trend and which tested gas flows up to 28 MMcf/d. The test rates from the Triceratops-2 well compare favourably with equivalent DST intervals in wells drilled on the Elk/Antelope structure along trend. The Elk/Antelope structure has independently certified best case contingent resources of 8.6 Tcf gas and 129 MMbbl condensate.

Ronald Pantin, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented: “This is a very exciting result and confirms our belief that the Triceratops structure and PPL-237, along with earlier discoveries by InterOil in the adjacent Elk/Antelope structure, indeed represents a world class gas and condensate trend and provides the Company with the strategic opportunity for early stage large resource capture on the doorstep of the world’s fastest growing primary energy markets. Not only is the Triceratops structure in itself proving to be a new discovery of significant magnitude, but additional prospects and leads on the large PPL-237 block provide further potential resource upside.”

The upper reservoir zone is underlain by an 80.5 meter (264 ft) marl and argillaceous limestone interval that likely acts as a seal separating it from an indicated lower reservoir zone. Wireline logs across this lower zone suggest a potential dolomitic reservoir. Gas shows encountered during drilling along with recovery of condensate in a DST across a 29 meter (96 ft) interval indicate potential movable hydrocarbons in the lower reservoir zone. The Triceratops-2 well did not encounter a gas-water contact (“GWC”) despite drilling below the depth of a GWC identified in the adjacent Bwata-1 well, indicating that the lower reservoir zone is in a different compartment.

The Company’s evaluation of all the well, petrophysical, test and seismic data to date, indicates a P50 structural closure of approximately 10,000 acres with net pay of 1,700 feet, and high quality reservoir with average porosities of 6% and water saturations of 20%, for the Triceratops structure.

InterOil has indicated that it will proceed with casing the well and a program of perforating and testing zones of interest including the indicated lower reservoir zone. Testing through casing is expected to yield more definitive results than those possible on limited DST’s.

[mappress]

LNG World News Staff, May 24, 2012