Colombia

Colombia has attracted the attention of small and medium-sized energy companies as well as the industry"s major international players.

The Colombian government has enacted a series of regulatory reforms to make the sector more attractive to foreign investors. In addition, it has implemented a partial privatization of state oil company Ecopetrol in an attempt to revive its upstream oil industry. Columbia is the United States largest source of coal imports and tenth largest source of oil imports and fifth largest reserves in South America. Much of the current exploration and development focus is in the following basins;

Magdalena Basin

• 1.9 Billion BO Proved Reserves
• 120,000 BOPD from proved Tertiary reservoirs

Llanos Basin

• 1.5 Billion BO Proved Reserves
• 5.2 Billion BO "2P" Reserves, Conventional
• Approaching 600,000 BOPD production

Putumayo Basin

• 365 MMBO Proved Reserves
• 24-30,000 BOPD Current Est. Production

The government has used incentives to create an attractive investment environment. According to Bloomberg News, Colombian foreign direct investment has increased nearly fivefold in the last decade, from $1.5 billion in 1999 to $7.2 billion in 2009. According to central bank figures, Colombia received $6.5 billion in foreign direct investment through the third quarter of 2010 meaning it is on pace to grow investment for yet another year.

The oil sector is largely driving this investment, in part due to government programs to make the country attractive to foreign oil companies. Companies can now have longer exploration licenses, and can also own 100 percent stakes in oil ventures.

Colombia produced 923,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil in 2011, up 35 percent from the 595,000 bbl/d produced in 2008. This rising production trend is continuing. Most recently, the Ministry of Mines and Energy reported that Colombian production reached 951,000 barrels per day in March 2012, and that production is expected to reach 1 million bbl/d by the end of 2012 and 1.5 million bbl/d by 2020. Colombia consumed 298,000 bbl/d in 2011, allowing the country to export most its oil production.

Colombia's landscape naturally lends itself to be ideal for exploration and development with:

• Diverse geology and play opportunities
• Small to giant field discovery potential
• Light to heavy oil, and natural gas
• Onshore and offshore opportunities
• Well established oil services industry
• Production infrastructure
• Atlantic and Pacific export markets

The Company will seek to build a production, development and exploration asset base in Colombia by:

• Acquiring and exploiting proven and probable reserves though its operational and technical expertise;
• Building a portfolio of high impact exploration prospects; and
• Applying Management's financial expertise to properly capitalize its activities.