Harvest Natural Resources Receives PDVSA Payment
biz.yahoo.com Monday March 10, 11:36 am ET
HOUSTON, March 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harvest Natural Resources,Inc. (NYSE: HNR - News) today announced that Benton-Vinccler, C.A., its 80 percent owned Venezuelan subsidiary, received $26.7 million as payment for its 2002 fourth quarter oil sales to Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). The payment was seven days late and represents full payment of $27.9 million less the normal income tax retention of $1.2 million. In addition, Benton-Vinccler received 2.7 billion Bolivars (approximately $1.7 million) reimbursement from PDVSA for previously paid 2002 fourth quarter value-added taxes. The payments were originally due at the end of February from PDVSA. However, PDVSA had previously advised Benton-Vinccler that the payment would be late due to the disruption in PDVSA's business activities resulting from the national civil strike.
Harvest President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Peter J. Hill, said, "We are pleased to have received these outstanding payments due from PDVSA. We believe that the payment demonstrates PDVSA's commitment to building its production levels back to full capacity and returning to more normalized business relations with its customers and suppliers."
Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an independent oil and gas exploration and development company with principal operations in Venezuela and Russia. For more information visit the Company's website at www.harvestnr.com .
This press release may contain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Actual results may differ materially from the Company's expectations due to changes in operating performance, project schedules, oil and gas demands and prices, and other technical and economic factors.