CALGARY, April 23 /CNW/ - Bengal Energy Ltd. (TSX: BNG) ("Bengal" or the "Company") today announced that it has received an independent assessment of prospective oil resources on its 100% owned Exploration Permit AC/P47 ("AC/P47" or the "Permit"), a 3,485 square kilometer offshore block located on the Ashmore Platform of the Northwest Shelf of Australia. The award of this Permit was announced previously by the Company on March 10, 2009. DeGolyer and MacNaughton ("D&M"), a worldwide petroleum engineering and consulting firm, has determined that a best estimate (P50) of the unrisked prospective oil resource attributable to one prospect identified in the Permit is 590.4 million barrels recoverable. AC/P47 is located approximately 150 kilometers west of the Vulcan Graben, an established offshore producing area.
"D&M's independent assessment confirms our belief in the significant potential of the AC/P47 offshore exploration permit that we were awarded last month," said Bradley Johnson, Chairman and CEO of Bengal. "While existing seismic data on the Permit clearly shows multiple large structures with closure, D&M at this time assigned prospective resources only to the first prospect identified. As large as the initial assessment is, we believe that even larger, multi-prospect potential exists within this Permit."
AC/P47 Prospective Oil Resources
D&M has estimated the unrisked mean prospective resource attributable to the assessed prospect identified in the AC/P47 Permit to be 736.5 million barrels recoverable. The corresponding geologic risk-adjusted mean estimate of the prospective resource in this prospect is 90.2 million barrels of recoverable oil.
The D&M resource estimates were prepared in accordance with the requirements of Canadian National Instrument 51-101 Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities ("NI 51-101"). Capitalized terms related to resource classifications used in this press release are based on the definitions and guidelines in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook ("COGEH"). D&M's independent prospective resource estimates, as of March 31, 2009, are shown below:
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AC/P47 Gross Prospective Resources(1)
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Unrisked Geologic
------------------------------------------- Risk-
Adjusted
Low Best High Mean Mean
Estimate Estimate Estimate Estimate Estimate
(2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
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Oil - thousand barrels 206,492 590,444 1,456,734 736,464 90,217
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Notes:
(1) Gross Prospective Resources are those quantities of petroleum that
are estimated, as of March 31, 2009, to be potentially recoverable
from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development
projects. Prospective resources have both an associated chance of
discovery and a chance of development. There is no certainty that any
portion of the prospective resources will be discovered. If
discovered, there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable
to produce any portion of the prospective resources.
(2) The Low Estimate is considered to be a conservative estimate of the
quantity that will actually be recovered. This term reflects a P90
confidence level where there is a 90% chance that a successful
discovery will be more than this resource estimate.
(3) The Best (Median) Estimate is considered to be the best estimate of
the quantity that will actually be recovered. This term reflects a
P50 confidence level where the successful discovery will have a 50%
chance of being more than this resource estimate.
(4) The High Estimate is considered to be an optimistic estimate of the
quantity that will actually be recovered. This term reflects a P10
confidence level where there is a 10% chance that the successful
discovery will be more than this resource estimate.
(5) The Mean Estimate is the probability-weighted average, which
typically has a probability in the P45 to P15 range, depending on the
variance of prospective resources volume or associated value.
(6) The Geologic Risk-Adjusted Mean Estimate ("Pg-Adjusted Mean
Estimate") is the probability-weighted average of the hydrocarbon
quantities potentially recoverable if a prospect portfolio were
drilled, or if a family of similar prospects were drilled. The Pg-
Adjusted Mean Estimate is a "blended" quantity. It is a mean
estimation of both volumetric uncertainty and geological risk. It
considers and quantifies the geological success and geological
failure outcomes. Consequently it represents the average or mean
"geologic" outcome of a drilling and exploration program. It is
calculated as Pg multiplied by the mean estimate.
About Bengal
Bengal Energy Ltd. is an international junior oil and gas exploration and production company based in Calgary, Alberta. The Company is committed to growing shareholder value through international exploration, production and acquisitions. Bengal trades on the TSX under the symbol BNG. Additional information is available at www.bengalenergy.ca.
Disclaimers
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements including estimates as to the unrisked and risk-adjusted prospective oil resource attributable to the Permit, possibilities of a larger, multi-prospect potential existing within the Permit and, estimates of the quantities of petroleum that are potentially recoverable from the Permit. These estimates involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Bengal's contro, including: the impact of general global economic conditions in Canada and in Australia, industry conditions, changes in laws and regulations including the adoption of new environmental laws and regulations and changes in how they are interpreted and enforced, increased competition, the lack of availability of qualified operating or management personnel, fluctuations in commodity prices, foreign exchange or interest rates, stock market volatility, timing of operations, ability to carry out operations as planned, changes in capital commitments, ability to obtain financing, ability to find appropriate partners, and the ability to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities. Bengal's actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and, accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits, including the amount of proceeds, that Bengal will derive therefrom. With respect to forward-looking statements made in this press release, Bengal has made assumptions regarding among other things, estimates of capital commitments, ability to generate future cash flows, access to credit facilities and capital markets or partners to meet capital commitments, future prices for crude oil and natural gas and geological and engineering estimates. Except as required by law, Bengal disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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