2009-08-15-2009-02-01

To acquire 50% WI in Putumayo 4 block, southern Colombia.

La Cortez Energy Inc., Bogota, Colombia, (OTCBB: LCTZ) has entered into an agreement with Petroleos del Norte SA (Petronorte), a subsidiary of Petrolatina Plc., (London Aim: PELE) to acquire a 50% net working interest in the Putumayo 4 block in southern Colombia. La Cortez will enter into a farm-in agreement with Petronorte, which was the winning bidder of Putumayo 4 in a Colombian-sponsored auction in 2008. La Cortez is expected to sign an exploration and production contract with the government's National Hydrocarbon Agency early this year, consisting of two three-year phases and a 24-year production phase. Putumayo 4 Block covers 126,846 acres in the Putumayo Basin just south of Gran Tierra Energy Inc.'s Costayaco oil discovery in the Chaza Block and has more than 248.5 miles of existing 2-D seismic data. La Cortez and Petronorte have offered to invest $1.6 million in additional seismic work in the Putumayo 4 Block and to pay National Hydrocarbon Agency a 1% of net production revenues. Under the terms of its proposed farm-in agreement with Petronorte, La Cortez will assume two-thirds of the cost of the first seismic campaign and will be reimbursed by Petronorte should the first well become a producing well. La Cortez president and chief executive officer Andres Gutierrez says, "We are very excited to have this opportunity to explore in the Putumayo 4 Block with our partner Petronorte as we see exploratory upside in this acreage. We believe this block will be the initial footprint for La Cortez in Colombia and we are working to expand our reach to other blocks in the region in the near future."