Porto Energy Corp. Announces Results from the ALC-1 Presalt
Exploration Well
TORONTO, Nov. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Porto Energy Corp.,
("Porto" or the
"Company") (TSXV:PEC), a company focused on oil and gas
exploration, appraisal and development in Portugal, today announced results from the
drilling of the Alcobaça #1 ("ALC-1") Presalt exploration
well in the Aljubarrota-3 concession, onshore Portugal. The well was drilled under a joint
venture with Petróleos de Portugal
- Petrogal ("Galp") who carried Porto on 50% of the total costs associated
with the drilling of this well, estimated to be approximately
$10.7 million.
The Company spud the ALC-1 well at the end of
August 2012. The ALC-1 well was the
Company's first Presalt well and reached a total measured depth of
3,240 meters. The well encountered a 300 metre gas column trapped
below salt, but did not find sufficient reservoir sands to be a
commercial success. The Company has begun efforts to plug and
abandon the well and release the rig. Porto and Galp are initiating technical
discussions on the best path forward.
"The well penetrated approximately 50 net
meters of sand and saw good reservoir properties in
several intervals, but much of the sands were
near the base of the trapped gas column and as such were deemed non
commercial," said Joseph Ash,
President and CEO of Porto Energy. "Overall we drilled nearly 1,000
feet of hydrocarbon column. The salt sealing mechanism
worked. The pre-salt charge and migration was confirmed as
the sands were found to be gas bearing. Reservoir containment
was also demonstrated since there was no breach.
Unfortunately, we discovered a much lower net to gross ratio on the
sands in this discovery. Regardless, this demonstrated to the
partnership that the play can work in the basin."
Porto will turn
its near term focus to its Lias unconventional resource oil play
while Mohave and Galp evaluate other parts of the basin where the
pre-salt is potentially productive. The Porto Lias
unconventional oil joint venture with Sorgenia International B.V.,
Netherlands ("Sorgenia"),
and Rohöl-Aufsuchungs Aktiengesellschaft, Austria ("RAG"), concluded a 23 well
stratigraphic drilling program in the third quarter of 2012 to
jointly evaluate the unconventional resource potential of the Lower
Jurassic (Lias) stratigraphic interval within Porto's concessions in Portugal. While the cores continue to show
encouraging results, complete rock mechanics and geochemical
analysis is ongoing. Complete results are expected in the
first quarter of 2013.
"We are very pleased with the results of our
Lias work program and the extra wells we drilled have allowed the
partnership to collect more data to analyze and interpret," said
Joseph Ash. "We and our
partners remain very optimistic about what we are seeing in the
data thus far."
About Porto Energy Corp.
Porto Energy Corp. is an international
oil and gas company engaged in the exploration of crude oil and
natural gas in Portugal, including
the appraisal of a gas discovery. Through its wholly owned
subsidiary, Mohave Oil And Gas Corporation (a Texas corporation with branch offices
in Portugal), the Company
holds working interests in seven concessions in Portugal's Lusitanian Basin totaling
approximately 1.9 million net acres. Through its exploration
efforts to date, the Company has identified seven major exploration
trends over its concessions including unconventional oil and gas
resource plays as well as conventional oil and gas
targets. Porto Energy's
shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol
"PEC". For more information on Porto Energy visit:
www.portoenergy.com.
Cautionary Statements
This press release contains certain
forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future
events or the Company's future performance. All statements
other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking
statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "plan",
"continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project",
"should", "believe", "predict" and "potential" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or
events to differ materially from those anticipated in such
forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these
expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking
statements should not be unduly relied upon. These
forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press
release and the Company does not undertake to update any
forward-looking statements that are contained in this press
release, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Porto Energy Corp.