VANCOUVER, Feb. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - Ivanhoe Energy Inc.
(TSX: IE; NASDAQ: IVAN) (TSX: IE.DB) today announced that Ivanhoe's
Specific Services Contract on Block 20 in Ecuador is being terminated by mutual consent
between Ivanhoe and Petroamazonas EP, Ecuador's state-run oil company.
As first announced in August 2014,
Ivanhoe and Petroamazonas agreed to a process to mutually terminate
the Specific Services Contract under which Ivanhoe has been
operating since 2008 as a step towards entering into a new Service
Contract with a consortium consisting of Ivanhoe and one of the
world's largest national oil companies (NOC), which has experience
working in Ecuador. Ivanhoe has
worked closely with Petroamazonas and officials from the Ecuadorian
government in terminating the contract according to Ecuadorian law,
and the company has fulfilled all of its termination
responsibilities.
On January 21, 2015, Ivanhoe
Energy announced that it is scaling back its activities in
Ecuador in response to
significantly lower oil prices and a delay in discussions with
Ivanhoe's partner on moving ahead with development plans for
Ivanhoe's Block 20 heavy-oil project. While oil price volatility
makes it challenging to move Block 20 forward in the short term,
Ivanhoe remains willing to work with its partner and the Ecuadorian
government to explore development alternatives for Block 20 over
the medium and longer term.
Ivanhoe Energy is an independent international heavy-oil
exploration and development company focused on pursuing long-term
growth in its reserves and production using advanced technologies,
including its proprietary heavy-oil upgrading process
(HTL®). Core operations are in Canada, the United
States and Ecuador, with
business development opportunities worldwide. For more information
about Ivanhoe Energy Inc., please visit www.ivanhoeenergy.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This document
includes forward-looking statements, including forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to the potential for commercialization and future
application of the heavy oil upgrading technology and other
technologies, statements relating to the continued advancement of
Ivanhoe Energy's projects, statements relating to the timing and
amount of proceeds of agreed upon and contemplated disposition
transactions, statements relating to anticipated capital
expenditures, statements relating to the timing and success of
regulatory review applications, and other statements which are not
historical facts. When used in this document, the words such as
"could," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may,"
"potential," "should," and similar expressions relating to matters
that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements.
Although Ivanhoe Energy believes that its expectations reflected in
these forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements
involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that
actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to
differ from these forward-looking statements include the potential
that the Company's projects will experience technological and
mechanical problems, new product development will not proceed as
planned, the HTL® technology to upgrade bitumen and
heavy oil may not be commercially viable, geological conditions in
reservoirs may not result in commercial levels of oil and gas
production, the availability of drilling rigs and other support
services, uncertainties about the estimates of reserves, the risk
associated with doing business in foreign countries, environmental
risks, changes in product prices, our ability to raise capital as
and when required, our ability to complete agreed upon and planned
asset dispositions, competition and other risks disclosed in
Ivanhoe Energy's 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR and the Canadian
Securities Commissions on SEDAR.
SOURCE Ivanhoe Energy Inc.