QUITO, Ecuador, Sep. 16, 2009 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX News Network) --

Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman, President and CEO of Ivanhoe Energy Inc. (TSX: IE; NASDAQ: IVAN), and David Martin, Chairman and CEO of Ivanhoe Energy Latin America Inc., announced today that a new, independent review of earlier drilling has confirmed the world-scale status of Ivanhoe Energy Ecuador Inc.'s Pungarayacu heavy-oil field in Ecuador.

Ivanhoe Energy Ecuador signed a contract in October 2008 with Ecuador state oil companies Petroecuador and Petroproduccion to explore and develop the Pungarayacu field, utilizing Ivanhoe's proprietary Heavy-to-Light (HTL) heavy-oil upgrading technology.

The new review, prepared by leading industry consultant Gaffney, Cline & Associates (GCA), of Houston, Texas, concludes that the Pungarayacu Project contains a Best Estimate of 6.4 billion barrels of original oil-in-place. Based on a review of data from 27 wells drilled during the early 1980s by Petroproduccion, the report submitted by GCA contains a range of estimates from a low of 4.3 billion barrels to a high of 12.1 billion barrels of original oil-in-place.

GCA's evaluation was limited to estimates of oil-in-place. GCA was not requested to, and therefore did not, evaluate the quantity of oil that might eventually be recovered from Pungarayacu. There is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of this estimated oil-in-place.

Confirmation of this estimate would make the Pungarayacu field the largest accumulation of heavy oil in Ecuador and one of the largest in Latin America.

The 250-square-mile (647 sq. km) Pungarayacu heavy-oil field, which was discovered approximately 30 years ago, is part of Ecuador's Block 20, and is approximately 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Quito, in the Amazon Basin. Ivanhoe Energy's contract covers project appraisal and development of Block 20, including production and upgrading of the heavy oil. Block 20 covers approximately 426 square miles (1,100 square kilometers, or 272,000 acres).

Ivanhoe has previously reported that the magnitude of the Pungarayacu oil field - together with access to the existing pipeline to Ecuador's Pacific Rim export terminal and transportation to Asian and North American seaborne energy markets - makes the project of significant interest to numerous international oil companies. Several large international oil companies already have approached Ivanhoe Energy Latin America and expressed serious interest in participating in the project. Under Ecuadorian law and the terms of the Block 20 contract, Ivanhoe must seek Petroproduccion's approval when specific strategic partners are introduced to the project.

Ivanhoe Energy Ecuador, a Canadian company, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ivanhoe Energy Latin America Inc., the parent company of Ivanhoe Energy Inc.'s Latin America corporate group.