Petrominerales Ltd. is pleased to announce that our Candelilla-1 well commenced production at over 11,500 barrels of oil per day (“bopd”) of 44 degree API oil with less than 1% water cut using an electric submersible pump (“ESP”). Currently the ESP has been taken offline and the well is free-flowing naturally at 7,400 bopd with less than 0.1% water cut through a half inch choke. The well is being produced through temporary well-site facilities that have a capacity of 10,000 barrels of fluid per day (“bfpd”). Production has been temporarily restricted due to oil transport limitations over the recent holiday period. We expect to resume production at the capacity of the well-site facilities later this week. The well will be produced through the temporary facilities while we await approval from the Ministry of Environment to tie into the Corcel Central Processing Facility, expected in the second quarter of 2010.
