HOUSTON, TX — (Marketwire) — 10/25/12 — (NASDAQ: CRZO) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to form a new joint venture in the Niobrara play with Haimo Oil & Gas LLC (“Haimo”), a subsidiary of Lanzhou Haimo Technologies Co. Ltd., a company formed under the laws of the People–s Republic of China. Pursuant to the agreement, Haimo will acquire an undivided interest in approximately 6,000 net acres located primarily in Weld and Adams Counties, Colorado along with associated infrastructure and production of approximately 185 Boe/day for an all-cash payment of $27.5 million, subject to customary closing conditions (including Chinese government approvals), and purchase price adjustments. The sale of the property will be effective as of October 1, 2012, the same effective date as in Carrizo–s separate Niobrara joint venture agreement with OIL India (USA) Inc. and IOCL (USA) Inc, subsidiaries of OIL India Ltd. and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., respectively. Following the closing of this transaction late in the fourth quarter of 2012, the joint venture interest ownership participations in Carrizo–s Niobrara development activities will stand collectively at 60% Carrizo, 30% OIL/IOCL, and 10% Haimo.
Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. is a Houston-based energy company actively engaged in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas primarily in the United States and United Kingdom. Our current operations are principally focused in proven, producing oil and gas plays primarily in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Niobrara Formation in Colorado, the Barnett Shale in North Texas, the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia, and the U.K. North Sea where our Huntington Field project is currently under development.
Statements in this news release that are not historical facts, including but not limited to those related to timing and levels of production, production mix, the proposed sales transaction (including timing, purchase price, and effects thereof), the Company–s or management–s intentions, beliefs, expectations, hopes, projections, assessment of risks, estimations, plans or predictions for the future, results of the Company–s strategies, timing of completion and drilling of wells, and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations. Although Carrizo believes that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include purchase price adjustments, actions by the purchaser, title adjustments and other actions by governmental authorities, joint venture partners, industry partners, lenders and other third parties, market and other conditions, capital needs and uses, commodity price changes, effects of the global economy on exploration activity, results of and dependence on exploratory drilling activities, operating risks, right-of-way and other land issues, availability of capital and equipment, weather, and other risks described in Carrizo–s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.