Venoco, Inc. says that its total proved oil and gas reserves as of December 31, 2009 were 98.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE) at SEC pricing of $61.04 per barrel of oil and $3.87 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) of natural gas. The company's production in 2009 was approximately 7.5 MMBOE or 20,622 BOE per day.

"Net of production and the Hastings sale, we added almost 16 MMBOE of reserves this year," said Tim Marquez, Chairman and CEO. "Our biggest adds were in the Sacramento Basin where we've demonstrated the reserve capacity associated with downspacing and low-resistivity pay."

Net of production, the company added 12.2 MMBOE of proved reserves in its Sacramento Basin assets, including 2.7 MMBOE from a mid-year acquisition. In its Southern California assets, the company added 2.8 MMBOE to proved reserves net of production. In its Texas assets, which the company has announced are for sale, reserves, pro forma for the sale of Hastings and net of production, were flat.

Year-end 2009 reserves net of production increased 18% compared to year-end 2008 reserves, pro forma for the February 2, 2009 sale of the Hastings field, of 89.8 MMBOE. The company replaced 210% of its 2009 production. The company expects 2009 all-in finding and development costs will be approximately $12.12 per BOE and that organic finding and development costs, which exclude proved property acquisitions, will be approximately $13.63 per BOE.

The pre-tax PV-10 value of the company's reserves using SEC pricing of $61.04 per barrel for oil and $3.87 per MMBTU for gas is $801 million. The company's estimate of reserves using the December 31, 2009 NYMEX 5-year strip pricing is 101.3 MMBOE. The pre-tax PV-10 value using the NYMEX 5-year strip pricing is $1.67 billion.

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