BN004390  03 de julho de 2009  15:06 HORALOCAL


    LONDON, July 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Perenco Ecuador Limited ("Perenco 
Ecuador") today announced that it is prepared to take legal action 
against any company that purchases or transports crude oil the 
Ecuadorian Government has unlawfully seized.  
    Perenco Ecuador is the Operator of Blocks 7 and 21 in Ecuador.  On 
February 19, 2009, the Republic of Ecuador and its oil company, 
Empresa Estatal Petroleos del Ecuador ("Petroecuador"), commenced a 
coercive process to collect from Perenco approximately $327 million 
they claimed were due under a 2006 Ecuadorian law ("Law 42") by which 
the Government asserts a right to 99% of the oil revenues above an 
arbitrary "reference price." In March 2009, Petroecuador began 
seizing crude oil produced by Perenco and its consortium partner, 
Burlington Resources Oriente Ltd. ("Burlington"), from Blocks 7 and 
21 in Ecuador to satisfy the alleged Law 42 debt.  
    However, on May 8, 2009, a three member international arbitration 
tribunal constituted under the auspices of the International Centre 
for the Settlement of Investment disputes ("ICSID") unanimously 
ordered that the Republic of Ecuador and Petroecuador were restrained 
from "instituting or further pursuing any action" -- including oil 
seizures -- "to collect from Perenco any payments [they] claim are 
owed... pursuant to Law 42." The tribunal made clear that such orders 
"are binding on the party to which they are directed" and that the 
parties "are under an international obligation to comply" with them.  
A copy of the tribunal's order can be found on the ICSID website, 
www.worldbank.org/ICSID . Just this week, a different international 
arbitration tribunal in a separate ICSID arbitration commenced by 
Burlington issued a similar provisional measures order.
    Despite these ICSID tribunal orders, the Ecuadorian Government has 
announced that it plans to go forward with a July 3 auction of the 
crude oil it has seized from Perenco and Burlington. The Government 
first attempted to sell the seized oil at an earlier auction in May, 
but no buyers materialized. Now it is trying again.
    With the second auction looming and a third scheduled for later this 
month, Perenco Ecuador has indicated that it will take a firm stand 
to protect its rights. According to Rodrigo Marquez, Latin American 
Regional Manager for the Perenco Group, "Anyone who purchases the 
seized crude oil under the circumstances is buying property that 
Ecuador and Petroecuador are not entitled to sell. The arbitration 
tribunals' orders establish that Perenco and Burlington continue to 
have the right to sell that oil, and that the disputed portion of the 
sale price should be placed into escrow. Consequently, anyone who 
buys at the Government auction may be liable for conversion or other 
misdeeds. Perenco is prepared to enforce its rights wherever it 
becomes necessary to do so."  
    At the same time, Perenco has continued to support a negotiated 
resolution of its dispute with Ecuador and Petroecuador. "We remain 
open to negotiations with the Government about fair terms for 
continued operations in Ecuador," said Mr. Marquez. He noted, 
"Perenco has consistently made clear to the Government that we prefer 
to have an agreement rather than an arbitration. That remains true 
today."
    Perenco Ecuador Limited is part of a privately held upstream oil and 
gas company and is the operator of Blocks 7 and 21 in Ecuador.

SOURCE  Perenco Ecuador Limited
                       07/03/2009
    CONTACT:  Rodrigo Marquez, Perenco Group, +44-20-7901-8200


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