Harvest Natural Resources Announces Another Oil Discovery in the Pre-Salt Offshore Gabon

HOUSTON, Feb. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE: HNR) today announced an update to its drilling operations in the Dussafu Tortue Marin-1 (DTM-1) well drilled in the Dussafu Marin PSC, offshore Gabon, West Africa.  Harvest operates the Dussafu PSC, holding a 66.667% interest.

The DTM-1 well was initially drilled in 380 feet of water to a vertical depth of 11,260 feet.  On January 4, 2013, Harvest announced an oil discovery in the pre-salt Gamba and Dentale reservoirs with plans to drill a sidetrack to appraise the extent of the Dentale oil discovery.

The Tortue oil discovery has been appraised by drilling a sidetrack (DTM-1ST1) to the southwest to test the lateral extent and structural elevation of both the Gamba and Dentale reservoirs.  The sidetrack was drilled to a Total Depth (TD) in the Dentale of 11,385 feet, 10,790 feet True Vertical Depth Subsea (TVDSS), approximately 1,800 feet from the original wellbore and found 65 feet of oil pay in the primary Dentale reservoir with better reservoir character and an apparent similar fluid level to that encountered in the vertical well, DTM-1.  In addition, several other stacked sands with oil shows were encountered; however, due to a stuck downhole tool, logging operations in the sidetrack were terminated early before pressure data could be collected to confirm connectivity.

The well will be suspended pending future appraisal and development activities and the rig will be released and demobilized.

Reservoir and conceptual engineering studies will start with the aim of evaluating the commerciality of the discovered oil in the Gamba and Dentale reservoirs at Tortue, as well as Harvest's previous Ruche oil discovery and the nearby Walt Whitman and Moubenga oil discoveries to determine the optimum development options for the block.

The addition of the Tortue oil discovery extends the proven fairway for stacked pre-salt reservoirs and has demonstrated the exploration potential for the outboard part of the Dussafu license.

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 Indonesia, West Africa, China and Oman, and business development offices in Singapore and the United Kingdom.  For more information visit the Company's website at www.harvestnr.com. 

This press release may contain projections and other forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. They include estimates and timing of expected oil and gas production, oil and gas reserve projections of future oil pricing, future expenses, planned capital expenditures, anticipated cash flow and our business strategy. All statements other than statements of historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements. Although Harvest believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Actual results may differ materially from Harvest's expectations as a result of factors discussed in Harvest's 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other public filings.

CONTACT:
Stephen C. Haynes
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
(281) 899-5716

SOURCE Harvest Natural Resources, Inc.

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