Tuscany Announces Resource Estimate and Operations Update
Publish date: 09/09/2015
Calgary, Alberta, September 9, 2015
Tuscany Energy Ltd. (TUS-TSXV) is pleased to announce that on August 27, 2015 it received a report from McDaniel and Associates Consultants Ltd. ("McDaniel"), an independent petroleum consultant, with respect to an estimate of the Discovered Oil Initially in Place ("DOIP") for the Company's two key Dina oil pools in Saskatchewan as of July 1, 2015.
The DOIP estimate for the Macklin Dina pool as of July 1, 2015 totalled 81 million barrels, which includes both the best estimate of the Company's share of contingent resources of 5.5 million barrels and the 1.5 million barrels of proven plus probable reserves which were assigned to the property in the Company's December 31, 2014 reserve report. The Company holds a 100% working interest in the Macklin Dina pool.
At Evesham, a Dina pool in which the Company holds a 60% working interest, the estimated DOIP as of July 1, 2015 totalled 42 million barrels (25 million barrels net to Tuscany) which includes both the best estimate of the contingent resources of 3.6 million barrels (2.2 million barrels net to Tuscany) and 1.4 million barrels (828 thousand barrels net to Tuscany) of proven plus probable reserves which were assigned to the property in the Company's December 31, 2014 reserve report.
Tuscany believes this McDaniel report supports Tuscany's view that additional drilling on the properties will result in the re-categorization of the contingent resources to reserves and increase production.
A key contingency that prevents the classification of contingent resources as reserves is the additional drilling, completions and testing required to confirm viable commercial rates. There is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the aforementioned resources.
The Company reports that it has updated its Corporate Presentation, which can be accessed on the Company's website.
Highlights for the Company's second quarter 2015 include production averaging 811 BOED, revenues totalling $3.4 million and cash flow of $1.1 million. At quarter end the Company's net debt had been reduced to $6.5 million, resulting in a 1.5 times D/CF ratio (net debt to annualized Q2 2015 cash flow from operations (1)). As a result of the return of the $1.1 million security deposit from the Alberta Government, the Company has $2 million available capacity on its line of credit at June 30, 2015.
Finally, commencing at the end of October 2015, the Company plans to drill an exploration well on its Winter property, targeting potential heavy oil in a Dina structure.
Please refer to Tuscany's website at www.tuscanyenergy.com for more information on the Company's Evesham and Macklin fields, additional reserve information and other prospects in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
(1) Non-GAAP measures see Tuscany's June 30, 2015 MD&A
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Robert W. Lamond, President & CEO
Or
Donald K. Clark, Vice President Operations & COO
TUSCANY ENERGY LTD.
Telephone: (403) 269-9889
Fax: (403) 269-9890
TSX Venture: TUS
www.tuscanyenergy.com
ADVISORY:
Forward looking statements:
This news release contains certain forward-looking information and statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. In particular, without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the estimates of the Company's DOIP, the Company's plans to commence drilling of its Winter well and that additional drilling on the Dina properties will result in the recategorization of the contingent resources to reserves and increased production from the properties.
Forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of material factors, expectations or assumptions of Tuscany which have been used to develop such statements and information but which may prove to be incorrect. Although Tuscany believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because Tuscany can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. In addition to other factors and assumptions which may be identified herein, assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the impact of increasing competition; the general stability of the economic and political environment in which Tuscany operates; the timely receipt of any required regulatory approvals; the ability of Tuscany to obtain qualified staff, equipment and services in a timely and cost efficient manner; drilling results; the ability of the operator of the projects in which Tuscany has an interest in to operate the field in a safe, efficient and effective manner; the ability of Tuscany to obtain financing on acceptable terms and the adequacy of cash flow to fund its planned expenditures; field production rates and decline rates; the timing and cost of pipeline, storage and facility construction and expansion and the ability of Tuscany to secure adequate product transportation; future commodity prices; currency, exchange and interest rates; regulatory framework regarding royalties, taxes and environmental matters in the jurisdictions in which Tuscany operates; the ability of Tuscany to successfully market its oil and natural gas products. There are a number of assumptions associated with the potential of resource volumes including the quality of the Dina reservoir, future drilling programs and the funding thereof, continued performance from existing wells and performance of new wells, the growth of infrastructure, well density per section, and recovery factors and development necessarily involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including those identified in this press release.
The forward-looking information and statements included in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and should not be unduly relied upon. Such information and statements, including the assumptions made in respect thereof, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information or statements including, without limitation: changes in commodity prices; the potential for variation in the quality of the Dina formation; changes in the demand for or supply of Tuscany's products; unanticipated operating results or production declines; changes in tax or environmental laws, royalty rates or other regulatory matters; changes in development plans of Tuscany or by third party operators of Tuscany's properties, increased debt levels or debt service requirements; inaccurate estimation of Tuscany's oil and gas reserve and resource volumes; limited, unfavourable or a lack of access to capital markets; increased costs; a lack of adequate insurance coverage; the impact of competitors; and certain other risks detailed from time-to-time in Tuscany's public disclosure documents (including, without limitation, those risks identified in this news release and Tuscany's Annual Information Form).
The forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release, and Tuscany does not assume any obligation to publicly update or revise any of the included forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
Presentation of Oil and Gas Information:
All oil and gas information in this presentation has been prepared and presented in accordance with NI 51-101 adopted by the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. For complete NI 51-101 reserves disclosures, refer to Tuscany's Annual Information Form dated April 28, 2015.
Discovered Petroleum Initially-in-Place or Discovered Oil Initially-in-Place ("DOIP"), is defined in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook as the quantity of oil that is estimated to be in place within a known accumulation prior to production. DOIP is divided into recoverable and unrecoverable portions, with the estimated future recoverable portion consisting of production, reserves and contingent resources. There is no certainty that it will be economically viable or technically feasible to produce any portion of the DOIP except for those portions already produced or identified. At July 1, 2015 all DOIP that has not already been produced or classified as reserves or contingent resources would be classified unrecoverable DOIP. A portion of the unrecoverable DOIP may in the future be determined to be recoverable and reclassified as contingent resources or reserves as additional technical studies are performed, commercial circumstances change or technological developments occur; the remaining portion may never be recovered due to the physical/chemical constraints represented by subsurface interaction of fluids and reservoir rocks.
The DOIP estimates assume 600 meter conventional horizontal wells spaced at 50 meters and 56 Mbbl of recoverable oil per location. The Company's ability to recover additional resources is subject to numerous principal risks, that include factors such access to capital that would enable us to continue development; low commodity prices which could impact economics; the future performance of wells; regulatory approvals; and access to required services. In order for contingent to be converted into reserves, the Company must continue to assess commercial production rates, devise firm development plans that incorporate timing, infrastructure and capital commitments. With continued development and delineation, some resources currently classified as contingent resources are expected to be reclassified as reserves.
Contingent resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from known accumulations using established technology of technology under development, but which are not currently considered to be commercially recoverable due to one or more contingencies. Contingencies may include factors such as economics, legal, environmental, political, and regulatory matters, or a lack of markets.
Projects have not been defined to develop the resources in Macklin and Evesham areas as at the evaluation date. Such projects have historically been developed sequentially over a number of drilling seasons and are subject to annual budget constraints Tuscany's policy of orderly development on a staged basis, the timing and cost of the growth of infrastructure, the short and long-term view of Tuscany on oil and gas prices, the results of exploration and development activities of Tuscany and others in the area and possible infrastructure capacity constraints. As with any resource estimates, the evaluation will change over time as new information becomes available.
The recovery and estimates of crude oil, natural gas and NGL reserves and resources provided in this release are estimates only and there is no guarantee that the estimated resources will be recovered. Actual crude oil, natural gas and NGL reserves and resources may be greater or less than the estimates provided in this release. The estimates of reserves and future net revenue for individual properties in this release may not reflect the same confidence level as estimates of reserves and future net revenue for all properties, due to the effects of aggregation.
The Corporation has adopted the standard of 6 Mcf:1 bbl when converting natural gas to oil equivalent. Boe conversions may be misleading particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion ratio of 6 Mcf:1 bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primar4ily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. As the value ratio natural gas and crude oil based on the current prices of natural gas and crude oil is significantly different from the energy equivalency of 6:1, utilizing a conversion on a 6:1 basis may be misleading as an indication of value.
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.