HRT board members resign

At a meeting of the HRT's Board of Directors held on Dec. 20, 2013,  resolutions were passed on the following motions 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 that it received on Dec. 22, 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. Copies of these letters will be forwarded to the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission.

Furthermore, the Board of Officers informs that it gathered on this date, with the support of legal advisers, to deliberate over the next steps to be adopted by the company. These steps 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. The company will move 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.