HRT ups the ante

Raises Namibia oil and gas estimates by 6%.  Despite two dry wells recorded this year offshore Namibia by a confident Chariot, Brazilian independent Oil and Gas company, HRT, has audaciously claimed a 6% increase in its resource estimate in four of its Namibian prospecting licences.
In its 2012 report prepared by consulting firm D&M, HRT said there has been a significant improvement in the analysis of the volumes previously reported by D&M following a study performed using the excellent quality 3D-seismic volumes that HRT acquired and processed during 2011 and 2012.
HRT says the new volumes represent an increase of 0.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) to the portfolio of HRT reported in 2011. As a result HRT’s barrels of oil equivalent have now increased to 7.4 billion barrels, being 5.1 billion of crude oil and condensate and 2.3 billion BOE of associated and non-associated gas.
More than a year after HRT’s much publicised launch party in Namibia were scantily-clad Samba dancers took centre stage, the Brazilian oil company also announced that it will start with its drilling operations early next year.
HRT will start drilling in Namibia in the first quarter of 2013 after the delivery of a Transocean Ltd oil rig. Transocean Ltd’s semi-submersible rig Transocean Marianas is scheduled to arrive in Namibian waters in January.
In an interview with The Economist last year,CEO Marcio Rocha Mello said HRT believes that the Namibian offshore portfolio is analogous to the ones present in the Campos and Santos Basins which produces the majority of Brazil’s crude oil.
Mello said at the time that HRT was 100% sure that it will find and produce oil and gas in the Walvis and Namib basins.
He said:“I have worked in Namibia since 1998. I worked for Chariot and also did some work for UNX. With such a history we really understand the Namibian petroleum system. “Nobody knows more about Namibian oil than me and my group,” Mello said.
Gil Holzman, CEO of Eco Oil & Gas, told an online publication, Proactive Investors, at the Oil Council World Assembly this week that he is gearing up for a busy and exciting period in Namibia, a region he dubbed one of the last great oil frontiers. “Neighbour HRT should tell us a little about the area’s potential when drilling gets underway early next year,” he said.