CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Nov. 16, 2012) - Tuscany Energy Ltd. (News - Market indicators) ("Tuscany" or the "Company") announces that it has filed on SEDAR its Interim Financial Statements and MD&A for the nine months ended September 30, 2012.
For the nine month period, oil production increased to 347 BOEd from 219 BOEd for the same period in 2011. Revenues increased to $5.8 million from $3.6 million and cash flow from operations increased to $1.9 million from $1.4 million in 2011. The Company also reported no debt at the end of the period.
During the third quarter, the Company focussed on increasing oil production from the Evesham and Macklin pools by installing additional water handling facilities. This included deepening and re-completing existing wells for increased disposal capacity and installing pipelines to handle increased volumes of water. As a result of this effort, early indications show substantially improved production from these pools, with no additional drilling expenditures.
Operations
Tuscany has a total of 18 horizontal heavy oil wells producing from its key fields in Saskatchewan, with 12 wells at Evesham and 6 wells at Macklin.
The Evesham water disposal upgrading encompassed the deepening and re-completion of a vertical well for water disposal and the connection of this well by pipeline to existing infrastructure. This was completed September 1st resulting in increased water disposal for 8 of its wells, to 600 barrels of fluid per day per well from 200 barrels of fluid per day. Oil production increased by 50% at the Evesham field from 225 bopd (135 bopd net) in July to 340 bopd (204 bopd net) in September.
The Macklin expansion included the tie in of an existing water disposal well to the main battery by pipeline and reconfiguration of the battery. This was completed October 1st resulting in improved water disposal for 6 of its wells, to 500 barrels of fluid per day per well from 200 barrels of fluid per day. Oil production increased by 80% at the Macklin field from 167 bopd (92 bopd net) in September to an estimated 300 bopd (165 bopd net) in October.
The foregoing results, while very encouraging, will of course result in the continued decline of production rates, but now, from a higher base rate. The Company anticipates that production can further be increased in the future from additional facility expansions and development drilling at the key Evesham and Macklin properties.
Financial
For the quarter, Tuscany's revenues net of royalties decreased to $1.6 million compared with $1.7 million in Q3 2011. This decrease was due to a decline in natural gas production and pricing compared with Q3 2011, and a reduction of processing fee revenues, partially offset by a slight increase in heavy oil revenues. Cash flow from operations for Q3 2012 decreased to $242,000 compared with $750,000 in Q3 2011. The Q3 2012 cashflow decrease resulted from an increase in operating costs which included a much larger property tax provision and increased water disposal costs. Water disposal costs should be minimized in future periods due to the expansion of water handling capacity at Evesham and Macklin discussed earlier.
Tuscany incurred $1.1 million of capital expenditures during the quarter compared with $3.6 million for Q3 2011. For the nine month period, capital spending was $4.2 million compared with $5.2 million in the prior year. Capital expenditures for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2012, were financed from cash flow from operations, proceeds from sales of Magnum Hunter shares, and property sales.
At September 30, 2012, Tuscany had minimal net debt of $63,000 compared with net debt of $447,000 at the beginning of the year. The Company also had access to a credit facility of $8.5 million, which remained undrawn.
Outlook
Tuscany is focused on growth through oil exploration and development. Tuscany believes it can currently achieve growth by continuing to develop its Dina oil properties at Macklin and Evesham from working capital and operating cash flows, while minimizing the reliance on bank debt to finance future capital expenditures.
The Company anticipates realizing average prices for its heavy oil production in excess of $60 per barrel for the remainder of the year. At these prices the Company believes that its heavy oil projects will have positive economics which would warrant continued development.
The successful completion of additional water handling facilities and disposal capacity at both the Evesham and Macklin fields by the end of Q3 2012 has led to subsequent increases in oil production rates which should reflect favorably on the Company's Q4 2012 financial results.
Longer term growth will result from development of new production and reserves from Tuscany's additional heavy oil prospects, developed over the past three years.
Please refer to Tuscany's website at www.tuscanyenergy.com for more information on the Company's Evesham and Macklin fields and other prospects in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
ADVISORY: Certain information regarding the Company in this News Release including management's assessment of future plans and operations may constitute forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws and necessarily involve risks including, without limitation, risks associated with oil and gas exploration, development, exploitation, production, marketing and transportation, loss of markets, volatility of commodity prices, currency fluctuations, imprecision of reserve estimates, environmental risks, competition from other producers, inability to retain drilling rigs and other services, capital expenditure costs, including drilling, completion and facilities costs, unexpected decline rates in wells, wells not performing as expected, incorrect assessment of the value of acquisitions, failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions, delays resulting from or inability to obtain required regulatory approvals and ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources. As a consequence, actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhausted. Additional information on these and other factors that could effect the Company's operations and financial results are included in reports on file with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com) and at the Company's website (www.tuscanyenergy.com). Furthermore, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
Where amounts are expressed on a barrel of oil equivalent (boe) basis, natural gas volumes have been converted to barrels of oil at six thousand cubic feet (mcf) per barrel (bbl). Boe figures may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion of six thousand cubic feet per barrel is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. References to oil in this discussion include crude oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs).
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