RIO DE JANEIRO,
Dec. 23, 2013 /CNW/ - HRT
Participações em Petróleo S.A. (the "Company" or "HRT")
(BM&FBOVESPA: HRTP3, TSX-V: HRP) informs that, at a meeting of
the Board of Directors held on December
20th, 2013, whose minutes were filed in a timely manner at
the IPE system (CVM and BM&FBOVESPA), and also made available
on the Company`s website, there was a resolution on the following
motion by the majority of the members in attendance: "To
acknowledge that the election of Messrs. Edmundo Falcão and
Marcello Pacheco is null and void,
and that they should cease to be members of the Fiscal Council and
be considered as such; Messrs. François Moreau and Oscar Prieto should be suspended
until the next Shareholder´s Meeting and shall refrain from
exercising the prerogatives they would be entitled to, if they had
been properly elected; To instruct the Company to seek the
reimbursement of the compensation and costs, and all payments made
to Messrs. Marcello Pacheco and
Edmundo Falcão; To reschedule the Shareholder´s Meeting and adjust
the agenda and to publish a Material Fact, given that it is in the
best interest of the Company and its shareholders to allow
shareholders to vote all of the relevant matters with a fully
informed basis".
Additionally, HRT announces to its shareholders and
the market in general that it received on December 22nd, 2013, six Letters of Resignation
from independent members of the Board of Directors, namely:
Messrs. Thomas W. Ebbern, Peter L. O
́Brien, Joseph P. Ash, François
Moreau, Charles Laganá Putz and Oscar
Prieto, addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Directors,
the CEO and/or the Investor Relations Officer of the Company. Copy
of these letters will be forwarded to the Brazilian Securities and
Exchange Commission - CVM.
Furthermore, the Board of Officers informs that it
is gathered on this date, with the support of legal advisers, to
deliberate over the next steps to be adopted by the Company that
will be disclosed in a timely manner to the shareholders and to the
market.
Lastly, the Board of Officers emphasizes that these
events do not interfere with the regular activities of HRT,
especially with regard to their financial and asset management, as
well as that it moves forward in its strategic and budget planning,
mainly in respect of the imminent start-up of activities as the
operator of the Polvo Field, in the Campos Basin, the negotiations
regarding the transfer of operatorship in the Solimões Blocks and
the sale of four rigs to Rosneft, in addition to the preservation
of its cash position that is forecasted to exceed R$ 200 million at year end.
For additional information, please contact HRT`s
Investor Relations Department.
Sedar Profile # 00031536
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About HRT
HRT Participações holds one of the largest independent oil and gas
exploration and production companies in Brazil. The HRT Group comprises six main
subsidiaries: IPEX (Integrated Petroleum Expertise Company Serviços
em Petróleo Ltda.), HRT O&G Exploração e Produção de Petróleo
Ltda., HRT Netherlands B.V., HRT África Petróleo S.A., HRT América
Inc. and HRT Canada Inc.. The Company retains a 55% interest in 19
exploratory blocks in the Solimões Basin. HRT also operates ten
exploratory blocks off the Namibian coast: eight blocks in the
Orange Sub-basin and two blocks in the Walvis Sub-basin. HRT's team
includes PHDs and masters in geochemistry, geophysics, biology and
engineering, most of them former employees of Petrobras and ANP
(Brazil petroleum agency). HRT is
committed to minimizing any possible environmental impacts in the
sites where it acts. Our commitment to the local communities is
towards health conditions, safety and quality of life. For more
information, please visit the Company's website:
www.hrt.com.br/ir
Disclaimer
This news release contains forward-looking statements. All
statements other than statements of historical fact contained in
this news release are forward-looking statements, including,
without limitation, statements regarding our drilling and seismic
plans, operating costs, acquisitions of equipment, expectations of
finding oil, the quality of oil we expect to produce and our other
plans and objectives. Readers can identify many of these statements
by looking for words such as "expects", "believe", "hope" and
"will" and similar words or the negative thereof. Although
management believes that the expectations represented in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no
assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. By their
nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions
and, accordingly, forward-looking statements are subject to
inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution readers of this news
release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking
statements because a number of factors may cause actual future
circumstances, results, conditions, actions or events to differ
materially from the plans, expectations, estimates or intentions
expressed in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions
underlying the forward-looking statements.
The following risk factors could affect our
operations: the contingent resource and prospective resource
evaluation reports involving a significant degree of uncertainty
and being based on projections that may not prove to be accurate;
inherent risks to the exploration and production of oil and natural
gas; limited operating history as an oil and natural gas
exploration and production company; drilling and other operational
hazards; breakdown or failure of equipment or processes; contractor
or operator errors; non-performance by third party contractors;
labour disputes, disruptions or declines in productivity; increases
in materials or labour costs; inability to attract sufficient
labour; requirements for significant capital investment and
maintenance expenses which HRT may not be able to finance; cost
overruns and delays; exposure to fluctuations in currency and
commodity prices; political and economic conditions in Namibia and Brazil; complex laws that can affect the cost,
manner or feasibility of doing business; environmental, safety and
health regulation which may become stricter in the future and lead
to an increase in liabilities and capital expenditures, including
indemnity and penalties for environmental damage; early
termination, non-renewal and other similar provisions in concession
contracts; and competition. We caution that this list of factors is
not exhaustive and that, when relying on forward-looking statements
to make decisions, investors and others should also carefully
consider other uncertainties and potential events. The
forward-looking statements herein are made based on the assumption
that our plans and operations will not be affected by such risks,
but that, if our plans and operations are affected by such risks,
the forward-looking statements may become inaccurate.
The forward-looking statements contained herein are
expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
The forward-looking statements included in this news release are
made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by
applicable securities laws, we do not undertake to update such
forward-looking statements.
SOURCE HRT Participações em Petróleo S.A.