Exhibit 99.1
Obsidian Energy Advises on Impact of Alberta Wildfires
CALGARY, May 8, 2023 – OBSIDIAN ENERGY LTD. (TSX / NYSE American – OBE) (“Obsidian Energy”, the “Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”) provides an update on operations and employees impacted by recent Alberta wildfires.
We view the protection and safety of our people, local communities, and the environment with the highest priority. As a precautionary measure, we have temporarily shut-in approximately 11,100 boe/d of production in our Pembina area in Central Alberta in response to the recent Alberta wildfires, with a plan to restart production once safe and permitted to do. Over the weekend, production shut-in volumes peaked at approximately 15,500 boe/d for a few hours on Saturday night, May 6th and into Sunday morning, May 7th, when the Peace River area fields at Harmon-Valley South, Seal, Walrus and Nampa were taken offline to address the threat of a wildfire near them. The Peace River volumes are back on production as the threat has currently subsided. To our knowledge, there has been no damage to the Company’s assets or key infrastructure.
All employees and contractors in the affected areas have been accounted for with approximately 42 Obsidian Energy staff and families impacted by the wildfires evacuated from the Drayton Valley and Peace River areas. We are currently supporting local officials, regulators, and industry partners in the response to the wildfires. The Company will continue to closely monitor the situation and provide an update when appropriate.
We would like to thank our staff, industry partners and emergency responders for their tireless work to protect our communities. Our thoughts are with our employees, their families, and our neighbors during this difficult time.
ADDITIONAL READER ADVISORIES
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking statements or information (collectively “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of the “safe harbour” provisions of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “anticipate”, “continue”, “estimate”, “expect”, “forecast”, “budget”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “could”, “plan”, “intend”, “should”, “believe”, “outlook”, “objective”, “aim”, “potential”, “target” and similar words suggesting future events or future performance. In particular, this document contains forward-looking statements pertaining to, without limitation, the following: our plans for when shut-in production can be restarted; and that we will continue to monitor the situation and provide an update when appropriate.
With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this document, the Company has made assumptions regarding, among other things: our ability to restart production; that there has been no damage to assets and key infrastructure; that we are able to monitor the situation by getting accurate and timely information; our ability to execute our plans as described herein and in our other disclosure documents and the impact that the successful execution of such plans will have on our Company and our stakeholders; our ability to execute our capital programs as planned without significant adverse impacts from various factors beyond our control, including extreme weather events, such as wild fires and flooding, infrastructure access and delays in obtaining regulatory approvals and third party consents; our ability to conduct an investigation to better understand the situation; and our ability to obtain equipment and staffing in a timely manner to carry out plans and the costs thereof.
