WestFire Energy Ltd Initiates Process To Identify Strategic Alternatives To Enhance Shareholder Value

WestFire Energy Ltd announced that its Board of Directors has decided to initiate a process to identify, examine and consider a range of strategic alternatives available to WestFire with a view to enhancing shareholder value. Strategic alternatives may include, but are not limited to, a sale of all or a material portion of the assets of WestFire, either in one transaction or in a series of transactions, the outright sale of WestFire, or merger or other transaction involving WestFire and a third party. For the purposes of considering strategic alternatives, WestFire has established a special committee consisting of independent directors, John Brussa (Chair), Christopher Fong and Roger Thomas and WestFire's Executive Chairman, Ed Chwyl (being a non-voting member) to oversee the process. WestFire has engaged Cormark Securities Inc. as its financial advisor in connection with the process. The Board of Directors has determined that WestFire's shares trade at a significant discount to the value of its underlying assets, especially given its high quality, low cost, operated asset base, which generates operating netbacks that are top quartile in industry, its strong balance sheet, its fully funded 2012 capital expenditure program, its large undeveloped land position and its multi-year drilling inventory with over 1,000 net prospective locations in its three core Viking light oil resource play project areas at Redwater and Provost, Alberta and Plato, West Central Saskatchewan.