Hawk Announces Increase in 2015 Year End Reserves and Record Annual Production

March 11, 2016 6:00 AM

CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – March 11, 2016) – Hawk Exploration Ltd. (“Hawk” or the “Corporation”) (TSX VENTURE:HWK.A) is pleased to provide a summary of its December 31, 2015 reserve information as evaluated by GLJ Petroleum Consultants Ltd. (“GLJ”) and an operations update.

HIGHLIGHTS

Increased total proved plus probable reserves by 16% to 3,338 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (“MBoe”) from 2,875 MBoe, despite limited capital expenditures in 2015;
Increased total proved reserves by 11% to 1,481 MBoe from 1,335 MBoe;
Added total proved plus probable reserves in 2015 at a finding and development cost of $6.96 per Boe, including the change in future development costs;
Added total proved reserves at a finding and development cost of $11.35 per Boe, including the change in future development costs;
Achieved a recycle ratio on a proved plus probable basis of 1.7 times based on estimated 2015 operating netback of $11.89 per Boe;
Replaced 2015 production on a proved plus probable basis by 279% and on a proved basis by 156%; and
Produced a record 712 boe/d in 2015, a 3 percent increase over the 691 boe/d produced in 2014, despite drilling only 2 (1.7 net) wells in 2015.

OPERATIONS UPDATE

Hawk’s production averaged 712 boe/d during 2015 and 675 boe/d during the fourth quarter of 2015. Over the past six months, the Corporation has shut in approximately 150 bbl/d of heavy oil production due to uneconomic conditions in the current price environment. Should oil prices improve, Hawk plans to place some or all of these shut in wells back on production. The Corporation’s production for February 2016 averaged approximately 610 boe/d, based on field estimates.

RESERVES

GLJ prepared an independent engineering report in accordance with National Instrument 51-101 (“NI 51-101”) with an effective date of December 31, 2015 (the “GLJ Report”). The tables below are a summary of the oil, NGL and natural gas reserves attributable to the Corporation and the net present value of future net revenue attributable to such reserves as evaluated in the GLJ Report.

The net present value of future net revenue attributable to reserves is stated without provision for interest costs and general and administrative costs, but after providing for estimated royalties, production costs, development costs, other income, future capital expenditures and well abandonment costs for only those wells assigned reserves by GLJ. It should not be assumed that the undiscounted or discounted net present value of future net revenue attributable to reserves estimated by GLJ represents the fair market value of those reserves. Other assumptions and qualifications relating to costs, prices for future production and other matters are summarized herein. The recovery and reserve estimates of oil, NGL and natural gas reserves provided herein are estimates only. Actual reserves may be greater than or less than the estimates provided herein.
The reserve data provided in this press release only represents a summary of the disclosure required under NI 51-101. Additional reserves disclosure will be provided in the Corporation’s Annual Information Form to be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) on or before April 30, 2016. The tables summarize the data contained in the GLJ Report and as a result may contain slightly different numbers than such report due to rounding. Also due to rounding, certain columns may not add exactly.

Summary of Oil and Gas Reserves as of December 31, 2015

Reserves Summary

		Oil		Natural Gas		Natural Gas Liquids		Total Oil Equivalent
Reserves Category		Gross (Mbbl)	Net (Mbbl)	Gross (MMcf)	Net (MMcf)	Gross (Mbbl)	Net (Mbbl)	Gross (Mboe)	Net (Mboe)
Proved
	Developed Producing	694	612	109	90	4	3	717	631
	Developed Non-producing	104	97	221	125	0	0	141	118
	Undeveloped	600	503	107	85	5	4	623	522
Total Proved		1,399	1,212	437	300	9	7	1,481	1,270
Probable		1,688	1,425	984	650	5	4	1,857	1,538
Total Proved plus Probable		3,087	2,638	1,421	950	14	11	3,338	2,808

Net Present Value Summary as of December 31, 2015

		Net Present Value of Future Net Revenue Before Income Taxes Discounted At (%/year)					Unit Value Before Income Tax Discounted at 10%/year
Reserves Category		0% M$	5% M$	10% M$	15% M$	20% M$	$/boe
Proved
	Developed Producing	10,503	9,427	8,500	7,719	7,064	13.47
	Developed Non-producing	2,168	1,734	1,406	1,158	969	11.95
	Undeveloped	7,616	5,618	4,134	3,018	2,165	7.93
Total Proved		20,287	16,778	14,040	11,896	10,198	11.05
Probable		37,634	27,634	20,732	15,860	12,335	13.48
Total Proved plus Probable		57,921	44,413	34,773	27,756	22,533	12.38

Total Future Net Revenue (Undiscounted) as of December 31, 2015

Reserves Category	Revenue M$	Royalties M$	Operating Cost M$	Capital Development Costs M$	Abandonment Costs M$	Future Net Revenue Before Income Tax M$

Total Proved	74,967	10,942	34,010	6,862	2,867	20,287
Total Proved plus Probable	181,736	29,834	74,105	15,626	4,250	57,921

Summary of Forecast Pricing and Inflation Assumptions

The GLJ Report used the following prices, exchange rates, and inflation rate assumptions as of December 31, 2015:

Year	WTI Cushing Oklahoma ($US/bbl)	Edmonton 40 degree API Crude Oil ($CAD/bbl)	WCS Crude Oil ($CAD/bbl)	AECO – NIT Spot ($CAD/mmbtu)	Inflation Rate %	Exchange Rate ($US/$CAD)
2016	44.00	55.86	42.26	2.76	2.0	0.725
2017	52.00	64.00	51.20	3.27	2.0	0.750
2018	58.00	68.39	55.39	3.45	2.0	0.775
2019	64.00	73.75	60.84	3.63	2.0	0.800
2020	70.00	78.79	66.18	3.81	2.0	0.825
2021	75.00	82.35	70.00	3.90	2.0	0.850
2022	80.00	88.24	75.88	4.10	2.0	0.850
2023	85.00	94.12	81.41	4.30	2.0	0.850
2024	87.88	96.48	84.90	4.50	2.0	0.850
2025	89.63	98.41	86.60	4.60	2.0	0.850
2026+	Escalated at 2.0 % per year thereafter.				2.0	0.850

FINDING AND DEVELOPMENT COSTS (“F&D”) ⁽¹⁾

		2015		2014		Three Year Average
		Proved	Proved plus Probable	Proved	Proved plus Probable	Proved	Proved plus Probable
Exploration and development costs (M$) ⁽²⁾		2,069	2,069	10,580	10,580	21,548	21,548

Change in future development cost (M$)
	Exploration and development	2,509	2,949	2,146	9,957	4,174	12,030
Total costs (M$)		4,578	5,018	12,726	20,537	25,722	33,578

Net reserve additions and revisions (Mboe)		403	721	439	1,310	1,085	2,355

Finding and Development – including future development cost ($/boe)

	Total F&D costs ($/boe)	11.35	6.96	28.98	15.68	23.71	14.26
⁽¹⁾ The aggregate of the exploration and development costs incurred in the most recent financial year and the change during that year in estimated future development costs generally will not reflect total finding and development costs related to reserve additions for that year.
⁽²⁾ The Corporation’s annual audit of the 2015 financial statements has not been completed and accordingly all financial amounts are management’s best estimates which are unaudited and subject to change.

NET ASSET VALUE

M$, except per share amounts	December 31, 2015

Proved plus probable reserves discounted at 10% (before taxes)	34,773
Undeveloped land and seismic ⁽¹⁾	3,708
Net debt and working capital deficit ⁽²⁾	(10,369	)
Proceeds from dilutive options	1,598
Net asset value	29,710
Fully diluted Class A shares outstanding (000’s) ⁽³⁾	50,061
Net asset value per fully diluted Class A share	$0.59
⁽¹⁾ Undeveloped land is based on management’s internal estimate at December 31, 2015. Hawk had a total of 16,147 net acres of land at December 31, 2015 assessed at an average value of $125 per net acre. The value of seismic data is based on management’s internal estimate at December 31, 2015 using a percentage of costs incurred in shooting the seismic data.
⁽²⁾ The Corporation’s annual audit of the 2015 financial statements has not been completed and accordingly all financial amounts are management’s best estimates which are unaudited and subject to change.
⁽³⁾ Includes Class A shares outstanding at December 31, 2015 of 45,575,952 plus dilutive options of 4,485,000.

LAND HOLDINGS

	Developed		Undeveloped		Total
Acres	Gross	Net	Gross	Net	Gross	Net
Alberta	3,480	2,653	3,521	2,529	7,001	5,182
Saskatchewan	3,270	2,785	16,492	13,618	19,762	16,403
Total	6,750	5,438	20,013	16,147	26,763	21,585

Hawk is an emerging company engaged in the exploration, development and production of conventional crude oil and natural gas in western Canada and is based in Calgary, Alberta. The Class A Shares of Hawk trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbols of HWK.A.

[expand title=”Advisories & Contact”]Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on the Corporation’s beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the assumption was made. 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. These statements 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 statements. Hawk believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release.

In particular, but without limiting the forgoing, this press release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the following: the volumes and estimated value of the Corporation’s oil and gas reserves; future oil and natural gas prices; future costs, expenses, royalty rates and the exchange rate between the $US and $CAD; supply and demand for oil and natural gas; planned development of the Corporation’s oil and natural gas properties; and future capital expenditure programs.

The material factors and assumptions used to develop these forward looking statements include, but are not limited to: the ability of the Corporation to engage drilling contractors, to obtain and transport equipment, services, supplies and personnel in a timely manner and at an acceptable cost to carry out its activities and plans; the ability of the Corporation to market its oil and natural gas and to transport its oil and natural gas to market; the timely receipt of regulatory approvals and the terms and conditions of such approval; the ability of the Corporation to obtain drilling success consistent with expectations; and the ability of the Corporation to obtain capital to finance its exploration, development and operations.

Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the risk factors including, without limitation: volatility in market prices for oil and natural gas; liabilities inherent in oil and natural gas operations; uncertainties associated with estimating oil and natural gas reserves; competition for, among other things, capital, acquisitions of reserves, undeveloped lands and skilled personnel; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions and exploration and development programs; geological, technical, drilling and processing problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs relating to the oil and natural gas industry; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions; general business and market conditions; and certain other risks detailed from time to time in Hawk’s public disclosure documents.

Statements relating to “reserves” or “resources” are deemed to be forward-looking statements, as they involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions that the resources and reserves described can be profitably produced in the future. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists of factors are not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Except as required under applicable securities laws, Hawk does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Barrels of oil equivalent (boe) may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion ratio of six thousand cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas to one barrel (bbl) of oil is based on an energy conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and is not intended to represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. All boe conversions in this press release are derived by converting natural gas to oil in the ratio of six thousand cubic feet of natural gas to one barrel of oil. Certain financial amounts are presented on a per boe basis, such measurements may not be consistent with those used by other companies.

Hawk Exploration Ltd.
Steve Fitzmaurice
President, CEO and Chairman
(403) 264-0191 Ext 225
steve@hawkexploration.ca

Hawk Exploration Ltd.
Dennis Jamieson
Chief Financial Officer
(403) 264-0191 Ext 234
dennis@hawkexploration.ca

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Hawk Announces Increase in 2015 Year End Reserves and Record Annual Production

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