Pacific Rubiales adds to success at Colombia's onshore Quifa Block

Pacific Rubiales has announced another oil discovery at its Quifa-9 well, drilled as an appraisal well on Prospect "D", at the Quifa Block, located in the Llanos Basin of Colombia.

Quifa-9 well
The Quifa-9 well found the top of the reservoir, the Carbonera basal sands at 2,970 feet measured depth (MD), or 2,304 feet true vertical depth at sub-sea level (TVDSS) and the oil-water contact (OWC) at 2,999 feet MD, or 2,333 feet TVDSS. The petrophysical evaluation of the well indicates a net pay zone of 17 feet with porosities over 32 %.
The Quifa-9 was drilled as an appraisal well on prospect "D", at 10 km from the discovery well Rub-147 drilled during the last quarter of 2008 (refer to press release dated October 2, 2008).

This well extends the discovery of Prospect "D" to the west and confirms approximately 10,000 acres (more than 40 sq km) for the whole prospect as well as an hydrocarbon column of more than 100 feet measured from the crest of the structure to the average OWC, with net pays ranging from 17 to 35 feet. The company is now planning to test the well and complete it as a vertical hole producer.
This is the fifth consecutive successful well that the company has drilled in the Quifa Block in its attempt to confirm the extension of the Rubiales field to the southwest. The discovery in Quifa 9, along with the other four wells, Quifa-5 and Quifa-8 on prospect "E", Quifa-I-9 on prospect "I"; and Quifa-7 on prospect "H", will allow for the incorporation of more than 15,000 acres of new reserves with the same characteristics of the Rubiales field.

The company is now preparing the necessary documentation to request the commerciality for the whole south-western Quifa area. Also, the company is well advanced in designing an aggressive drilling campaign to develop these discoveries in the short term. It is important to note that the production at Quifa will benefit from the sliding royalties scale instituted in Colombia which is dependent on production levels and crude quality, and will result in a lower level of royalties as compared with the Rubiales Block.
The Quifa Block is an exploratory block in which Meta Petroleum (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pacific Rubiales) holds a 60 % working interest and Ecopetrol holds a 40 % working interest.