CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/11/13 -- PetroBakken Energy Ltd. ("PetroBakken" or the "Company") (TSX: PBN), is pleased to announce that average production for the month of December 2012, was 53,200 barrels of oil equivalent a day ("boepd") based on field estimates. We are also pleased to announce a $675 million capital plan in 2013 that is expected to result in an 8 to 12 percent growth in average annual production.
Operational Update
PetroBakken had a successful year in 2012. Early in the year we completed certain initiatives to strengthen our financial position and increase balance sheet liquidity. This included terming-out our debt through the issuance of US$900 million of high yield notes and disposing of approximately 4,200 boepd of non-core properties. The asset dispositions allowed us to expand our capital program during the second half of the year and more than replace the disposed production. Our 2012 December average production of 53,200 boepd represented a 6% increase over our 2011 December average (a 16% increase post dispositions) and was comprised of over 21,500 boepd from our Bakken business unit, over 22,500 boepd from our Cardium business unit, and the remainder from our Saskatchewan Conventional and AB/BC business units.
In the fourth quarter, we drilled 79 net wells, completed 106 net wells and brought 99 net wells on production, exiting the year with 21 net wells in inventory. We drilled a total of 217 net wells and completed 234 net wells in 2012. Fourth quarter activity is broken down by operating area as follows:
Q4 2012 Drilling Activity On Drilled Completed Production Inventory(1)Business Unit Gross Net Gross Net Gross Net Gross Net---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bakken 37 28 48 40 50 43 4 1 Conventional (SE SK) 20 14 17 12 18 13 9 4 Cardium (central AB) 37 33 60 51 49 41 17 14 Alberta/BC 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2----------------------------------------------------------------------------Total 98 79 128 106 119 99 32 21-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Inventory refers to the number of wells pending completion and/or tie- in at December 31, 2012.
Our inventory of 14 net wells in the Cardium, 1 well in the Bakken, 4 net wells in southeast Saskatchewan, and 2 net wells in our new plays partly reflects the advancement of capital from 2013 into 2012 and will contribute to production volumes in the first quarter of 2013. We expect the first quarter of 2013 to be our busiest of the year, and we currently have 16 drilling rigs operating: 6 in southeast Saskatchewan, 7 in the Cardium and 3 in our Alberta/British Columbia emerging plays.
Of note, in our Swan Hills resource play we drilled 3 horizontal wells at Deer Mountain. 2 of the 3 net wells at Deer Mountain were completed and put on production and we are encouraged by initial results. Our capital plan for 2013 includes 12 (10 net) horizontal wells to be drilled on our Swan Hills play, of which 8 (8 net) will be drilled at Deer Mountain and 4 (2 net) will be drilled on farm-in land.
