GOLDEN, COLORADO and VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/05/13 -- The directors and management of Strata-X Energy Ltd ("Strata-X" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SXE) are pleased to provide an update on the Company's co-listing on the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX") and to announce that its subsidiary company, Strata-X, Inc., has completed and closed a Transaction to purchase three producing oil and gas leases ("Transaction") in the State of Illinois, USA to further the development of the Vail Oil Project.
The acquired properties cover 160 gross acres and include a total of six wells, of which four are producing, one is shut-in and one is an active salt water disposal well. Strata-X, Inc. will be the operator of the properties. The total cost of the Transaction was $306,900 USD. Currently, the wells are producing approximately five barrels of oil per day. The leases and wells acquired in the Transaction will assist the Company in its exploration of the Vail Oil Project by providing increased well control in the area in which the Company intends to drill its first horizontal well, thereby reducing drilling risk. Strata-X interprets there is significant production potential remaining in this field and is planning to carry out modern enhanced production methods to extract this potential including the use of multistage hydraulic fracture completions. Strata-X is a first mover on the Vail Oil Project and in order for the Company to continue the low cost entry advantages of being first mover, it does not plan to reveal the exact location of the Vail Oil Project until a later date.
ASX Update:
Further to the Company's press release dated December 21, 2012, the Company is moving forward with its co-listed Initial Public Offering of shares on the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX"). The Offering was opened on January 7th, 2013 and is expected to close on February 8th, 2013. The Company anticipates February 20th, 2013 will be the first day the stock is traded on the ASX and will be traded under the ticker symbol "SXA". The Company's existing shares will continue to be traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "SXE".
About the Vail Oil Project:
Strata-X is 'First Mover' on the Vail Oil Project
Strata-X completed an extensive in-house analysis of a highly productive onshore USA basin in 2012. The results of this technical work led to the identification of a potential unconventional continuous oil field in a dolomitic reservoir, referred to as the Vail Oil Project located in the State of Illinois, USA. It is interpreted to extend over an area of approximately 500 square miles. The project is located at depths between 3,500 and 5,000 feet.
The Company's in-house analysis covered 120 historic wells that intersected the dolomitic reservoir. Taken together with data on oil and gas recoveries from formation tests and reported oil shows in samples from the reservoir, this analysis supports Strata-X's interpretation that the reservoir is oil saturated. The dolomitic reservoir target of the Vail Oil Project is below the New Albany Shale, which is interpreted to have expelled in excess of 300 billion barrels of oil (Lewan, et al., 2002). To date, the basin has produced over 4 billion barrels of oil (Higley, et al., 2001), primarily from structures above the source rock where several studies have geochemically linked the oil produced from these reservoirs to the New Albany Shale (Hatch, et al., 1990).
Strata-X recognizes direct analogies between the Elm Coulee Oil Field, located in the Williston Basin, and the Vail Oil Project. According to the Montana Board of Oil & Gas Conservation website, Elm Coulee has produced over 138 million barrels of oil equivalent to date from a continuous, unconventional oil field from the Bakken dolomitic reservoir and is expected to ultimately produce over 200 million barrels of oil (Sonnenberg and Pramudito, 2009). The dolomitic reservoirs in both Vail and Elm Coulee are of the same geological age, have similar thickness and are immediately below highly generative source rocks.
Elm Coulee has about 5 million barrels of oil in place per section (Walker, et al., 2006), which compares favorably to Vail's interpreted 3 million barrels of oil in place per section at shallower depths. Strata-X interprets that the target 50,000 net acres at the Vail Oil Project contain over 230 million (undiscovered) barrels original oil in place.(i) (see Cautionary Statement below).
Oil was intersected in many historic wells at Elm Coulee but, like Vail, oil flows and recoveries were sub-commercial in the early vertical wells. More recent horizontal hydraulic fracturing treatments at Elm Coulee have resulted in commercial oil flows with July 2012 production from the field in excess of 33,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (Montana Board of Oil & Gas Conservation website, accessed 9/19/12).
Strata-X commenced acquiring 100% net working interests in oil and gas exploration rights in two counties in the Illinois basin in early 2012 and to date has acquired an interest in 45,400 net acres.
About Strata-X Energy Ltd
Strata-X Energy Ltd and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Strata-X, Inc. and Strata-X Australia Pty Ltd, is an independent oil and gas exploration company listed on the TSX-V. Based in British Columbia, Canada, Strata-X has a portfolio of petroleum projects which provides a diversified collection of potential high growth opportunities for Shareholders. The Company's strategy and goals are to discover and develop oil and gas opportunities with relatively low entry costs, a meaningful acreage position and a large working interest which combine to create the potential for substantial growth for Shareholders.
Strata-X Energy currently owns or has rights to approximately 6,779km2 (1,675,160 net acres) in petroleum assets located in the USA and Australia. The Company is primarily targeting near term growth in conventional and unconventional oil resources in the USA. Longer term growth is offered in the Company's successful strategic application for 5,820 km2 (1,438,120 acres) in the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Strata-X Energy owns and operates 100% of the majority of its four key projects which provides the Company with flexibility in terms of timing and approach to exploration and any subsequent development of delineated oil and gas properties. The Company also has interests in several other petroleum projects in the USA.
Strata-X is engaged in the business of oil and gas exploration and development with a variety of exploration opportunities in Texas, North Dakota, California, Colorado, Illinois and Western Australia and production and development opportunities in California. Strata-X Energy Ltd has 63,737,105 shares outstanding.
Public documents for Strata-X Energy Ltd. in Canada can be found at SEDAR (www.sedar.com)
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
By definition of the COGE Handbook - "Undiscovered resources are those quantities of oil and gas estimated on a given date to be contained in accumulations yet to be discovered." Further the Handbook states - Caution (per NI 51-101/5.9(2)(v)(B)) - "There is no certainty that any portion of the resources will be discovered. If discovered, there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the resources." In addition, per NI 51-101/5.6 "the estimated values disclosed do not represent fair market value."
This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", 'may", "will", "project", "should", 'believe", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected and the forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. See "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's Filing Statement dated August 30, 2011 available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com These forward- looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities and the Company is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.
Neither 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.
Contacts:
Strata-X Energy Ltd
Tim Hoops
President
720-515-8793
info@strata-X.com
Strata-X Energy Ltd
Colin Christensen
Investor Relations
403-483-8363
colin@strata-x.com
