ERHC Energy Inc. Technical Partner Commences Exploration Campaign

HOUSTON, August 26, 2009 – ERHC Energy Inc. (OTCBB: ERHE), a publicly traded American company with oil and gas assets in the highly prospective Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa, today announced that exploratory drilling is underway in Block 4 of the Nigeria-São Tomé and Príncipe Joint Development Zone (JDZ) in which ERHC has a 19.5 percent interest. The Company’s technical partner, Addax Petroleum Corporation, the operator in JDZ Block 4, has announced the spudding of the Kina Prospect.

“The start of drilling in our JDZ Blocks represents an important step toward realizing the Company’s vision after more than a decade of hard work,” said Peter Ntephe, chief operating officer with ERHC. “We are very excited that we are on the cusp of realizing the value of a portion of ERHC’s portfolio of oil and gas assets in the Gulf of Guinea.”

Another significant development is the change of operator in JDZ Block 3, in which ERHC has a 10 percent interest. Addax has announced that it has acquired the 51 percent interest formerly held by Anadarko and will be the operator of JDZ Block 3.

The drilling campaign is being conducted using Transocean’s Deepwater Pathfinder, a fifth generation dynamically positioned deepwater drilling rig capable of drilling in water depths up to 3,048 meters. Addax plans to drill the "Kina" and "Lemba" prospects in JDZ Blocks 4 and 3, respectively, using the Deepwater Pathfinder.

In 2009, the independent engineering firm, Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc. (NSAI) estimated ERHC's unrisked prospective resources in JDZ Blocks 2, 3 and 4 totaled more than 336 million barrels of oil (P50). The NSAI report estimated ERHC risked prospective resources in JDZ Blocks 2, 3 and 4 totaled 135.5 million barrels of oil.

ERHC Energy has interests in six of the nine Blocks in the offshore JDZ. The Company has additional interests in the territorial waters of Democratic Republic of São Tomé & Príncipe known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

About ERHC Energy
ERHC Energy Inc. is a Houston-based independent oil and gas company focused on growth through high impact exploration in the highly prospective Gulf of Guinea and the development of undeveloped and marginal oil and gas fields. ERHC is committed to creating and delivering significant value for its shareholders, investors and employees, and to sustainable and profitable growth through risk balanced smart exploration, cost efficient development and high margin production. For more information, visit www.erhc.com.

Cautionary Statement
 
This press release contains statements concerning ERHC Energy Inc.’s future operating milestones, future drilling operations, the planned exploration and appraisal program, future prospects, future investment opportunities and financing plans, future shareholders’ meetings, response to the Senate Subcommittee investigation, developments in the SEC investigation of the Company and related proceedings, as well as other matters that are not historical facts or information.  Such statements are inherently subject to a variety of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, projected, expressed or implied.  A discussion of the risk factors that could impact these areas and the Company’s overall business and financial performance can be found in the Company’s reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors include, among others, those relating to the Company’s ability to exploit its commercial interests in the JDZ and the exclusive territorial waters of São Tomé and Príncipe, general economic and business conditions, changes in foreign and domestic oil and gas exploration and production activity, competition, changes in foreign, political, social and economic conditions, regulatory initiatives and compliance with governmental regulations and various other matters, many of which are beyond the Company’s control. Given these concerns, investors and analysts should not place undue reliance on these statements. Each of the above statements speaks only as of the date of this press release. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any of the above statements is based.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors - The United States Securities and Exchange Commission permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. We use certain terms on this Web site, such as "recoverable reserves potential," that the SEC's guidelines generally prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 10-K. You may review our filing with the SEC at the following Web site: www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000799235.

###

 


 

 

Contact Us