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Petrobank First Quarter Production Hits 43,856 BOEPD
On Tuesday May 12, 2009, 1:37 am EDT

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Petrobank-First-Quarter-ccn-15211168.html/print

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - May 12, 2009) - Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. ("Petrobank" or the "Company") (TSX:PBG - News) is pleased to announce our first quarter 2009 financial and operating results.

(All references to $ are Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted)

HIGHLIGHTS

(all comparisons are to the first quarter of 2008)

- Petrobank's production almost doubled to 43,856 barrels of oil equivalent per day ("boepd") in the first quarter of 2009.

- Canadian Business Unit ("CBU") production increased 59% to 22,085 boepd.

- Latin American Business Unit ("LABU") production increased 152% to 21,771 barrels of oil per day ("bopd").

- Our Heavy Oil Business Unit ("HBU") produced 248 bopd in March and 256 bopd in April.

- Despite a sharp drop in world oil prices funds flow from operations increased by 1% to $125.2 million ($1.40 per diluted share). We recorded a net loss of $1.5 million ($0.02 per diluted share) in the first quarter compared to net income of $35.5 million ($0.40 per diluted share) in the same 2008 period.

- CBU production expenses improved 27% to $6.81/boe and LABU production expenses improved 32% to $7.40/bbl.

- CBU operating netbacks, excluding hedging gains of $5.31/boe, averaged $34.68/boe and LABU operating netbacks averaged $30.18/bbl in the first quarter.

- On April 27, 2009, Petrobank agreed to sell 9.9 million shares of our Petrominerales holdings for gross proceeds of $101.5 million. The transaction is expected to be completed on May 15, 2009, at which time Petrobank's ownership interest will be reduced to approximately 66.8%.