CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - July 14, 2010) - Exall Energy Corporation (TSX:EE) ("Exall" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update concerning its second quarter operations.
Highlights of the second quarter 2010 operations are: |
- Successfully completed, tied in and placed on production the 10-25 (formerly 12-25) discovery well announced on April 13, 2010
- Completed construction of an all weather road to the 10-12 well site allowing the Company to re-commence completion work on the 10-12 dual leg well drilled during the first quarter, 2010
- Successfully drilled the first of four offset wells to the 10-25 discovery well, in the Marten Mountain B Sand project area, encountering productive oil-saturated reservoir sandstone. The well is expected to be tied in and on production through the Exall facility by the end of the third quarter, 2010
- Commenced a mid-year reserves update, to be completed during the month of July with results to be announced concurrently with second quarter financials, mid August.
- Second quarter production average of approximately 826 boepd with productive capability of 1,450 boepd
- Successfully negotiated an increase to the Company's revolving demand credit facility of $2.0 million from $6.5 million to $8.5 million.
- Successfully renegotiated the Company's non-revolving bridge loan facility. The facility now bears interest at 10.0% (previously 12.5%) and matures December 31, 2010 (previously May 31, 2010).
Marten Mountain Project
The first well of 2010 summer drilling program, a Marten Mountain project area offset well, was drilled as a multi-lateral well from a common cased wellbore. The well penetrated reservoir quality sand with encouraging hydrocarbon shows. This well is immediately adjacent to the Exall pipeline completed in Q4 of last year. The Company had previously constructed a tie-in point for the well on the pipeline to facilitate ease of tie-in. Exall expects the well will be on production through the Exall facility by the end of the third quarter. Year round access permits additional offset drilling opportunities. Exall continues to further develop its plans to drill two additional wells on the sand trend identified during winter 2010 drilling.
The drilling success established during the first half of fiscal 2010 has prompted the Company to engage AJM Petroleum Consultants to perform a mid-year reserve update report. This report will be completed during July with the results issued to the market along with second quarter 2010 results in mid August.
Second Quarter Production
Exall's average daily production for the second quarter is approximately 826 boepd, 624 boepd less than Exall's productive capability, primarily as a result of gas conservation constraints imposed upon Exall by the purchaser of the Company's commodities in Mitsue. The purchaser was taking approximately 18 e3m3 of gas per day until the last week of May when the purchaser's refining facility shut down for a plant turnaround which lasted 20 days instead of the forecast 10 days. Once the facility came back on line the purchaser informed Exall that it would only take 8 e3m3 of gas per day thus constraining Exall's production to approximately 860 boepd. It is anticipated that production for Q3 will average approximately 1,050 boepd due the constraints imposed by gas production. Exall is actively exploring several options to remedy these gas handling issues including a potential pipeline tie-in and power generation. Once these issues are resolved, production is expected to increase to 1,450 boepd and additional production through additional drilling success will be realized in a timely manner.
Debt Facilities
Exall successfully negotiated an increase of $2.0 million to the Company's revolving demand credit facility. As a result, the Company's facility now stands at $8.5 million. In conjunction, with this increase, Exall's bank has adjusted the minimum working capital covenant ratio to 1.1 to 1.0 from the previous 1.0 to 1.0 ratio.
Additionally, Exall successfully renegotiated the Company's non-revolving bridge loan facility. The facility now bears interest at 10.0% (previously 12.5%) and matures December 31, 2010 (previously May 31, 201). The non-revolving bridge loan facility currently calls for payments of $250,000 per month to commence on August 31, 2010 with the balance to be paid out upon maturity. As of June 30, 2010 this facility is fully drawn at $1.75 million.
About Exall
Exall Energy Corporation is a junior oil and gas company active in its business of oil and gas exploration, development and production from its properties in Alberta, British Columbia and Texas. Exall is currently developing a new oil discovery at Marten Mountain in north-central Alberta.
The Company currently has 52,382,745 common shares outstanding. The Company's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol EE.
Reader Advisory
This news release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those relating to results of operations and financial condition, capital spending, financing sources, commodity prices and costs of production. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future and, accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those predicted. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in such statements, and there is no assurance that actual results will be consistent with them. Such factors include fluctuating commodity prices, capital spending and costs of production, and other factors described in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form under the heading "Risk Factors" which has been filed electronically by means of the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") located at [ www.sedar.com ]. Such forward-looking statements are made as at the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them, either publicly or otherwise, to reflect new events, information or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities law.
For the purposes of calculating unit costs, natural gas has been converted to a barrel of oil equivalent (boe) using 6,000 cubic feet equal to one barrel (6:1), unless otherwise stated. The boe conversion ratio of 6 mcf: 1 bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion method and does not represent a value equivalency; therefore boe may be misleading if used in isolation. This conversion conforms to the Canadian Securities Regulators' National Instrument 51-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities.