FIELD ACTIVITIES / Backer Petroleum Updates
Backer Petroleum Corp. ("Backer") announces that three
wells completed in 1996 and 1997 at its Darwin, Alberta, property commenced
production on February 13, 1998, at a rate of 8.0 MMCF per day of raw gas.
Backer's 30% share of the natural gas production is 2.4 MMCF per day.
Construction of the natural gas processing facility has just been completed
on the gas property located 60 miles north of Peace River, Alberta. The plant
will handle 10 MMCF per day.
Backer's 1997 year end sales volume of 600 barrels of oil equivalent ("BOE")
per day will increase to over 800 BOE per day, and Backer's net cash flow
will increase by over $60,000 per month, based on recent oil and gas prices.
Four additional wells in which Backer holds a 30% Working Interest are in
progress in the Darwin Area. These include one well drilled and completed as
a potential gas well which will be production tested during the next three
weeks and which earned three sections of land; one well which has had casing
set with completion work underway which earned an additional three sections
of land; one water disposal well to handle water recovered from the natural
gas processing plant, and one location anticipated to spud within the next
two weeks. Depending upon results, the new gas wells may also be tied in for
production before spring break-up.
With the completion of the earning phase of the multi-well program initiated
in 1996, Backer owns an 18% to 50% Working Interest in 32 sections, over
20,000 gross acres of land, in the Darwin Area. Drilling can only be
conducted during the winter freeze-up season in this area. Consequently, an
additional three or four wells to further develop the Darwin property will be
drilled in the 1998-99 winter drilling season, and should provide additional
natural gas throughput within the 10 MMCF per day capacity of the processing
facility already in place.
[signed]
David M. Mercier Toronto Stock Exchange - "BCM"
President
Operations Office:
Suite 750, 500 - 4th Ave. S.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2P 2V6
Tel: (403) 264-6962
Fax: (403) 265-8256 |
