Press Release Blackbird Energy Inc. Announces First High Impact Well at Elmworth and Planned Disposition of Bigstone Asset
Friday, August 15, 2014
Blackbird Energy Inc. Announces First High Impact Well at Elmworth and Planned Disposition of Bigstone Asset
03:15 EDT Friday, August 15, 2014
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Aug. 15, 2014) - Blackbird Energy Inc. ("Blackbird" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:BBI) is very pleased to announce its first horizontal well targeting the Upper Montney at the Company's Elmworth Project. Subject to license approval, the well is to be spud in Q4 2014 at location 10-26-70-07W6, and will be drilled to a depth of approximately 2,300 meters with a horizontal reach of approximately 2,700 meters. The Elmworth Project is 100% owned by Blackbird and has been geologically de-risked by the drilling of industry leaders nearby.
Blackbird has recently also added one new contiguous section of land to the Elmworth land package, bringing the Company's current land position to 32 sections (20,480 net acres) in the over pressured oil/field condensate window, with 28 of such sections being contiguous.
Blackbird also announced today that it has entered into a purchase and sale agreement (the "Agreement") for the sale of its 50% non-operated working interest at Bigstone (the "Bigstone Asset") for total cash consideration of $8.8 million, prior to customary closing adjustments (the "Transaction"). The Bigstone Asset consists of 3.5 net sections (2,240 net acres) of land.
The Transaction is expected to close on or about September 1, 2014, subject to the satisfaction of standard industry closing conditions and approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. The disposition of the Bigstone Asset will provide Blackbird with a non-dilutive source of funding and will allow the Company to focus on, and accelerate, the development of the Elmworth Project through the drilling of its first Upper Montney well.
Garth Braun, CEO of Blackbird stated: "The sale of Blackbird's 50% working interest in Bigstone aligns with our strategy of creating a focused and well capitalized Montney exploration and development company. We will be focusing our team on the drilling of the first 100% working interest high impact Upper Montney well at our Elmworth Project."
Blackbird strategically acquired the Bigstone Asset over the past three years, first by way of a farm-in agreement for a 25% working interest and more recently through the acquisition of Pennant Energy Inc. which provided the Company with a 50% consolidated working interest in the liquids rich Montney project and the opportunity to monetize the asset as a strategic option in light of issues surrounding access to infrastructure. The proposed disposition of the Bigstone Asset demonstrates the ability of the Company's management team to identify an opportunity to increase Blackbird's financial flexibility and focus on development at the Elmworth Project.