BPZ Energy Reports Incident Involving Peruvian Navy Tanker
BPZ Resources, d/b/a BPZ Energy, announced today that one of the Peruvian Navy tankers the Company has chartered from the Peruvian Navy’s commercial branch has sunk after catching fire. The 7,500 barrel capacity “Supe”, that was moored near the Corvina CX-11 platform and was being used to store oil produced from Corvina’s 21XD and 14D wells, caught fire at 8:55 am Eastern Time January 30, 2008 and later sank approximately one and a half miles from the platform. A full investigation of the incident by the Company is underway.
Initial reports indicate 12 sailors from the Peruvian Navy working aboard the Supe were injured. BPZ’s emergency plan was immediately put into action to evacuate the injured sailors to local hospitals. Two of the sailors have been discharged from the hospitals, while the remaining 10 sailors were evacuated to Lima aboard one of the Peruvian Navy’s hospital planes.
At the time of the accident the Supe tanker had 1,300 barrels of oil, most of which is believed to have been burned in the fire. Initial assessments show that environmental issues have been adequately controlled.
There were no reports of apparent damage to the Company’s platform, barges, drilling and well testing equipment, or other facilities and the Company understands that damage has been limited mostly to the Supe, which was anchored at a distance from the platform and directed away after it caught fire. However, production from the 21XD and 14D wells, approximately 4,200 barrels of oil per day at the time, and the testing operations on the 18XD well have been temporarily suspended until a full assessment of the situation has been completed.
Manolo Zúñiga, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Of utmost importance is the well being of those individuals injured in the incident. We are also concerned about possible environmental issues. We will continue to monitor the status of the injured as well as the environmental impact, if any, and assist the Peruvian Navy in any possible way. We have been informed that our operations, the platform, the BPZ-01 tender assist barge, and the transport barge were not involved in the incident. While we have shut down production and testing temporarily, we are evaluating several alternatives to resume production and testing as quickly as possible. Key personnel, including Chief Operating Officer Frederic Briens, have been mobilized from Lima to the operations site in Tumbes to assess the situation and provide assistance as needed. The Company will provide further information related to this incident as appropriate as soon as more complete information becomes available.”
About BPZ Energy
Houston based BPZ Energy is an oil and gas exploration and production company which has exclusive license contracts for oil and gas exploration and production covering approximately 2.4 million acres in four properties in northwest Peru. It also owns a minority working interest in a producing property in southwest Ecuador. The Company is currently executing the development of the Corvina oil discovery and the redevelopment of the Albacora oil field, in parallel with, the execution of an integrated gas-to-power strategy, which includes generation and sale of electric power in Peru and sales of gas into Ecuador for third-party power generation. The Company’s website at www.bpzenergy.com provides additional information about the Company’s plans, including photographs and other information with respect to its operations.
