Highlights
Government of Quebec enacts Petroleum Resources Act and regulations
Kakwa joint venture facilities expansion completed with gross capacity almost
doubling to 43 MMcf/d
Kakwa North well tests at 2,900 boe/d and operator plans tie-in
Average daily production of 1,414 boe/d for the quarter, impacted by the plant
expansion, with adjusted funds flow from operations of $2.62 million

We still plan to move forward in Quebec despite the previous Governments
decision to include the ban on hydraulic fracturing in the final regulations.
Our optimism is based on the strength of our legal position and, more
importantly, growing social acceptability.

At a court hearing early in the fourth quarter, the Superior Court Justice
responsible for the case agreed that Questerres motion for judicial review
raises serious questions of public interest. Given the high importance of
the issues, we were allowed a fast-tracked judicial review that will decide on
permanently setting the fracking ban regulations aside. The hearing is scheduled
for next February and we expect a decision early in the spring. We are open to
settling this legal proceeding with the new Government on a pragmatic basis that
balances the legal issues and environmental protection.

Aside from the unexpected and purported last-minute changes to the regulations,
we were pleased with the subsequent enactment of the Petroleum Resources Act
that will oversee oil and gas development in Quebec. This legislation was
approved by the National Assembly in December 2016 and permits hydraulic
fracturing. While the other regulations could be more streamlined, they allow us
to resume development once we have secured social acceptability.

We continue to work on social acceptability, step by step. These included over
six years of public consultations and environmental assessments on developing
oil and gas, as well as the safety of modern completion techniques. This was
successful, and we believe it informed the 2030 Quebec Energy Policy that
supports the development of local natural gas to reduce emissions and energy
imports. Our next steps are to secure local acceptability with our clean gas
pilot and revenue sharing proposals for municipalities. The initial feedback has
been positive.

On the basis that we have growing local acceptability and a hearing on the
regulations, we plan to close our previously announced acquisition in Quebec
early next year. This will give us the operatorship we need to advance our
proposed pilot program and revenue sharing. With a three fold increase in our
acreage, we will be engaging our reserve engineers to update the Quebec resource
assessment post-closing.

In Jordan, we have started the next phase of engineering for our oil shale
project.

In addition to the long-life reserves with no real decline rate relative to
shale oil and conventional production in North America, this project also
benefits from upgrading and premium pricing to Brent. Following the results from
the feasibility study by Hatch, that estimated combined capital and operating
costs of between US$38-40/bbl, we are looking at optimizing capital costs to
improve returns for this multibillion-barrel deposit. We hope to begin
negotiations with the Kingdom of Jordan for a concession agreement by year-end.

By this time, we should see the results from the second farm-in well on our
Kakwa North acreage. We were very pleased with the results from the first well
that tested at 2,900 boe/d including almost 1,000 bbl/d of condensate. Another
well could spud early next winter. We have a royalty interest in these initial
wells and a 50% working interest in all future wells. Based on the operator's
plans to tie-in these wells, by this time next year, we may see a similar ramp
up in drilling to our adjacent Kakwa acreage.

At Kakwa, up to seven (1.5 net) wells are planned over the next year. On this
basis, we anticipate production growth of 500 boe/d largely funded by cashflow.

Production averaged 1,414 boe/d for the third quarter and 1,812 boe/d year to
date compared to 1,643 boe/d and 1,270 boe/d for the same periods last year.
With production shut-in longer than expected for this infrastructure and other
field work, our volumes declined over the prior quarter. Current corporate
production is estimated at 1,800 boe/d.

Improved oil prices and higher volumes year to date contributed to adjusted
funds flow from operations of $13.28 million for the nine months ended September
30, up from $4.23 million last year. Light oil and liquids represent almost 70%
of our production and we realized an average price of $74/bbl year to date. As a
result of the growing discounts for Canadian oil due to a lack of market access,
this pricing could decrease materially over 2019.

We were encouraged by the election of a right-of-centre majority government in
Quebec. Our natural gas discovery could contribute strongly to their goal of
reducing energy imports and improving the provinces economic independence. We
look forward to working with this new government.


Michael Binnion
President and Chief Execu
Ekstern link: https://newsweb.oslobors.no/message/463302