LOS ANGELES, April 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Sonoran Energy, Inc. (OTCBB:SNRN) is pleased to announce today that its corporate profile is now featured on Yahoo! Finance available at http://biz.yahoo.com/p/s/snrn.ob.html.
Sonoran Energy recently announced that it has completed its 50 percent acquisition of the National Development Company -- Merzonian Lease with operating partner Longbow LLC acquiring the remaining 50%. The acquisition of the lease (Section 22, T22S R27E MDB&M), located in the Deer Creek Oil Field 42 miles north of Bakersfield, California, is a straight production acquisition. The lease consists of six producing wells and one injection well producing approximately 25 barrels of oil per day. This new lease is an offset property to the 93-acre Deer Creek Field Keystone leases acquired in December 2002.
"The new Deer Creek property is a sample of our proactive acquisition program," said John Punzo, Sonoran Energy President and CEO. "This, along with Sonoran's purchase of the Mt. Poso Field property, Emjayco's Glide No. 33 property, the Keystone Lease, our San Antonio project and the Malton-Black Butte, Denverton Creek and Maine Prairie Gas Fields, has enabled the Company to focus on generating a solid revenue stream from the Sonoran family of projects."
The Deer Creek Field is located in an area predominantly explored and operated by small independent oil and gas companies, and lies in the western dipping homocline along the western flank of the Sierra Nevada. Production on the Merzonian Lease is long lived and on a relatively flat incline curve. Sonoran Energy, Inc. also has successfully reactivated eight of the 12 wells on its Emjayco Glide No. 33 Property and has started production. The Company anticipates reactivating four additional wells over the next 60 to 90 days. Sonoran also has acquired working interests in three natural gas producing properties in California's Sacramento Basin from Archer Exploration, Inc. Sonoran Energy has acquired varying percentages in the three properties that are producing 3,700 Mcf/day. These acquisitions increase the Company's natural gas production and reserves, and move Sonoran Energy closer to its goal of producing 2,500 to 5,000 Mcf/day. Through its partnership with Longbow LLC the Company intends to continue to make acquisitions over the next 12 to 24 months to reach this goal and enable the Company to become a producer of 1,000 to 1,500 BOE per day.
Domestic U.S. oil producers like Sonoran Energy, Inc. are positioned to significantly benefit from rising demand for U.S. domestic oil production in light of the brewing International oil production crisis due to war, strikes, and terrorist threats.
Just this month, the Nigerian subsidiaries of Royal Dutch/Shell Group (NYSE:RD) (NYSE:SC), ChevronTexaco Corp. (NYSE:CVX) and TotalFinaElf (NYSE:TOT) halted production totaling 817,500 barrels a day, or about 40% of Nigeria's output of some 2 million b/d amid violence between rival ethnic groups, the Ijaws and Itsekiri, leading up to April 19 parliamentary and presidential elections. Militant Ijaws reportedly threatened to blow up multinational oil installations they said they had captured in retaliation for government military raids. Additionally, oil-well firefighters from Houston-based Boots & Coots International Well Control (AMEX:WEL) are traveling to southern Iraq to assess damage in the country's key Rumaila oil fields. The firefighting teams are looking at a timetable of 30 to 45 days to extinguish the fires and cap the wells. But one source said the timing will depend on "what's all there." The Pentagon has contacted a number of major oil industry service companies -- among them Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), once run by Vice President Dick Cheney -- to repair any of Iraq's wells that are damaged and assess everything from wells to pipelines and pumping stations.
Venezuela's oil industry collapsed in December, when employees at state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela walked off the job, angry about changes in the company under the administration of President Hugo Chavez. By the height of the strike, 16,000 employees had walked out, and production shrank to 200,000 barrels a day, costing Venezuela $6 billion. The country had to import fuel to keep vehicles moving, and drivers waited days at gas stations. The strike, which failed to oust Chavez or call early elections, was strongest in the oil sector, though businesses around the country shut down.
About Sonoran Energy
Sonoran Energy's primary objective is to identify, acquire and develop working interest percentages in smaller, underdeveloped oil and gas projects that do not meet the minimum requirements of major oil and gas corporations. Sonoran Energy's goal is to be recognized as a promising junior oil and gas producer.
Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.