Thailand: Coastal Energy Breaks its Production Record in 2010

Coastal Energy Company, an independent exploration and production company with assets in Thailand, announces the financial results for the year ended December 31, 2010. The functional and reporting currency of the Company is the United States dollar.

Fourth Quarter 2010

Total Company production averaged 7,578 boepd in the fourth quarter; offshore production was impacted by 23 days of downtime (15 related to weather and 8 for processing facilities upgrade).

The Company drilled three exploration wells at Songkhla A and each well discovered new reservoirs in the Lower Oligocene and Eocene intervals. These three new fault blocks are estimated by the Company to collectively contain approximately 80 million barrels of oil in place. The wells have since been tied into production facilities. Further appraisal and development work around these three discoveries is planned for 2011.

Coastal Energy reported EBITDAX of $2.6 million ($0.02 per basic share) for Q410. The decline from Q310 is attributable to lower production and lifting volumes due to downtime on the Company’s offshore operations.

Full Year 2010 Highlights

Total Company production averaged 9,670 boepd for the full year of 2010, 31% above 2009 levels.

A total of 2.8 million barrels of oil and 4.3 bcf of gas net to the Company were produced during the year. The average prices realized were $70.47 / barrel for oil and $7.07 / mcf for gas

The Company brought its Bua Ban field onstream in July.

The Company’s full year 2010 EBITDAX was $112.7 million, 197% above 2009 EBITDAX of $37.9 million.

Randy Bartley, President and CEO of Coastal Energy, commented:

“2010 was a record year for Coastal Energy. We had record production volumes and cash flow. The Company successfully completed the first phase of development at the Bua Ban field and drilled three successful exploration wells at Songkhla. We are pleased with the results and expect to build on this foundation with further success in 2011.

“The slight reduction in offshore reserves is attributable to a write down at the Bua Ban field following development drilling in Q310. Several of the wells encountered thinner pay zones than were used previously in calculating the reserve estimates. However, we are pleased that the exploration drilling at Songkhla in Q410 added enough reserves to almost fully offset the decline in Bua Ban reserves. We plan further appraisal drilling at Songkhla later in 2011 to further refine our oil in place estimates and recovery factors for these reservoirs, which could serve to increase reserve estimates.

“2011 is off to a terrific start. We have drilled successful exploration wells at Bua Ban North A and have already discovered over 50 million barrels of oil in place (per Company estimates) in the first three and a half months of the year. Coastal has also successfully fractured two wells at Bua Ban, which we continue to evaluate. We are evaluating a development plan for horizontal wells and multi-stage fracs in both the Eocene and Lower Oligocene reservoirs at Bua Ban to increase production rates and ultimate recoveries.

“We have a busy year ahead of us with the remainder of Bua Ban North exploration drilling, development work on the recent discovery at Bua Ban North, Southern Bua Ban appraisal and exploration and further appraisal and development drilling at Songkhla.”

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Source:Coastal Energy , April 20, 2011;