Falcon Engages Merrill Lynch and Moyes & Co. to Begin Search for Strategic Partner in Australia's Beetaloo Basin

DENVER, Aug 26, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. (TSXV: FO) ("Falcon" or the "Company"), a global energy company focused on acquiring, exploring and developing large acreage positions of unconventional and conventional oil and gas resources, today announced that it has entered into agreements (collectively, the "Agreements") with Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner and Smith, Inc. ("Merrill Lynch") and with Moyes & Co. ("Moyes") under which Merrill Lynch and Moyes will provide a range of advisory services to Falcon regarding Falcon's 2009 strategic initiative in Australia.

In May of 2009 Falcon announced that it had increased its interest in the seven-million acre Beetaloo Basin prospect under four Exploration Permits in the Northern Territory of Australia to an undivided 75% working interest and is now operator under the Permits. For its 2009 Australian initiative, Falcon will be seeking one or more parties with the financial and/or technical capabilities to participate in exploration and development activities in the Beetaloo prospect. Under the terms of the Agreements, Merrill Lynch's and Moyes' global energy teams will jointly manage the process of assisting Falcon in identifying and selecting suitable participants for its Australian initiatives.

"On the heels of the recently published Ryder Scott Resource Analysis Report on the Company's Beetaloo Basin project in the Northern Territory of Australia, we now begin the process of evaluating and creating an exploration strategy for this potentially significant play. We selected the combined Merrill Lynch and Moyes advisory team because we believe that they have the expertise, experience, and track record in evaluating major oil and gas opportunities and facilitating transactions in this part of the world," stated Marc A. Bruner, President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Falcon. Mr. Bruner continued, "With the expert guidance of these advisors, we are optimistic about entering into transactions with one or more parties that will add significant value to these assets, similar in nature to the agreement we signed with ExxonMobil on our Mako Trough prospect in Hungary. This is the fundamental nature of our strategic business model."

Sean Mueller, project lead for Merrill Lynch, said, "As the founder of several companies, including Ultra Petroleum and Pennaco, Marc Bruner is an unconventional oil and gas industry pioneer who unlocked the potential at Jonah and Pinedale in the Rocky Mountains. He and his team have taken that experience and expertise and expanded internationally to Hungary and now, Australia. In the Beetaloo Basin, Marc and his team have developed a very unique and potentially enormous opportunity for the company, its shareholders, and for Australia as a whole. The Merrill Lynch team is looking forward to assisting in this effort."

Chris Moyes added, "Considering that we have a contiguous 7-million-acre property at the door of the Asian market, multiple conventional and unconventional plays, a very stable, friendly and supportive government agency in the Northern Territory, and a highly encouraging initial technical evaluation from Ryder Scott, Moyes & Co. is very excited about the potential of Falcon's Beetaloo interest and working with Falcon on this project."

*The Report on the hydrocarbon resource potential of the Beetaloo Basin describes a possible distribution of the unrisked prospective (recoverable) portion of unrisked "Undiscovered in-place Resources," as defined by the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook (COGEH) and does not represent an estimate of reserves or contingent resources. The Report has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian standards set out in the COGEH and is compliant with National Instrument 51-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities."

* Falcon's news release, dated August 18, 2009, included Tables 9 and 10 from the July 1, 2009 Ryder Scott Report. For a definition of "Low" "Best" and "High," see Section 5 of the Report titled "Definitions of Resources and Reserves," item 5.3.5 titled "Uncertainty Category." The total oil and gas resource is an arithmetic summation of the multiple estimates of the individual reservoir resources. Under Section 5.2 of COGEH: Undiscovered Petroleum Initially-In-Place (equivalent to undiscovered resources) is that quantity of petroleum that is estimated, on a given date, to be contained in accumulations yet to be discovered. Prospective Resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development projects. Prospective resources have both an associated chance of discovery and a chance of development. There is no certainty that any portion of the undiscovered resources will be discovered and that, if discovered, it may not be economically viable or technically feasible to produce any of the resources

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/falcon-engages-merrill-lynch-and-moyes-co-to-begin-search-for-strategic-partner-in-australias-beetaloo-basin-2009-08-26