Sun River Energy, Inc. Updates Shift To Oil Asset Development

DALLAS, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun River Energy, Inc. (OTC:BB:SNRV).  On April 16, 2012, Sun River Energy, Inc. (the "Company" or "Sun River") announces planned development of oil in East Texas.

Donal R. Schmidt, Jr., the Company's CEO and President, said:

"As discussed in our press release on March 5, 2012, Sun River has made a strategic shift to the development of primarily oil bearing assets.  With the price of crude over $100 per barrel and natural gas declining to decade low prices, the shift was the logical one for Sun River.  Company engineers and geoscientists are equally adept at developing either commodity.

"In addition to the Woodbine development previously discussed, Sun River is now in a position to move forward aggressively with the development of a field it "rediscovered" during development activities of the Company's Panola County, Texas assets."

Thimothy S. Wafford, the Company's COO and petroleum engineer said:

"The conventional thought is that when an oil field is discovered, it is produced until there are no more hydrocarbons left to produce.  This is clearly not the case.  Fields are frequently abandoned prior to depletion for numerous reasons, two of which are the production becomes uneconomical and/or technology at the time did not permit full exploitation of the resources in place.  We encountered a reservoir in the Pettit that indicated productive on both the mud log and the electric log.  Further review of oil production data from the 1940's and 1950's indicated 13 wells in the area produced an average of 119,000 barrels of oil before being abandoned in 1956 as oil prices dipped to $2.94/barrel.  Original oil-in-place is estimated at over 8 million barrels, so approximately 6.5 million barrels are estimated to remain in place.  Sun River estimates proved reserves are 2.2 million barrels and 4.3 million barrels of additional potential available with current completion technology."

Schmidt adds:

"Sun River holds approximately 50% of the leased mineral acreage covering the field and is negotiating to acquire the balance either through direct acquisition or leasehold trade.  Sun River's current acreage is HBP by a well Sun River owns which produces from the Haynesville formation.  The average well is anticipated to produce over 200 barrels of oil per day and ultimately recover over 100,000 barrels during its lifetime.  The cash flow from these wells is anticipated to provide Sun River with capital necessary to expedite its development efforts in the Woodbine Play in East Central Texas as well as further development activity on its New Mexico property. "

About Sun River Energy, Inc.:

Sun River Energy, Inc. is a Dallas-based, oil and gas exploration and production company.  For further information on the Company, please visit our website http://www.snrv.com.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" (statements which are not historical facts) made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations rather than historical facts and they are indicated by words or phrases such as "anticipate," "could," "may," "might," "potential," "predict," "should," "estimate," "expect," "project," "believe," "plan," "envision," "continue," "intend," "target," "contemplate," or "will" and similar words or phrases or comparable terminology. We have based such forward-looking statements on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While we believe these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward- looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include, but are not limited to, the time to consummate the proposed development, completion and extraction; the timing and extent of changes in market conditions and prices for natural gas and oil; the timing and extent of the Company's success in discovering, developing, producing and estimating reserves; the economic viability of, and the Company's success in drilling, the Company's ability to fund the acquisition, development, completion and extraction of oil and gas assets and the Company's planned capital investments; the Company's future property acquisition or divestiture activities; increased competition; and any other factors listed in the reports the Company has filed and may file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the Company's expectations only as of the date they were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise.

Cautionary Note -- The SEC permits oil and gas companies, in filings made with the SEC, to only disclose proved reserves, which are estimates that geological and engineering data demonstrate with reasonable certainty to be recoverable in future years from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions. Beginning with year-end reserves for 2009, the SEC permits the optional disclosure of probable and possible reserves.  In this news release, the Company uses certain broader terms such as "estimated", "anticipated", "potential available" or other descriptions of volumes of resources potentially recoverable through additional drilling or recovery techniques that may include probable and possible reserves as defined by the SEC's guidelines.  These estimates are by their nature more speculative than estimates of proved, probable and possible reserves and accordingly are subject to substantially greater risk of being actually realized.  Potential resources refers to the Company's internal estimates of hydrocarbon quantities that may be potentially discovered through exploratory drilling or recovered with additional drilling or recovery techniques and have not been reviewed by independent engineers. "Potential available" does not constitute reserves within the meaning of the Society of Petroleum Engineer's Petroleum Resource Management System and does not include proved reserves.  Area wide unproven, unrisked resource potential has not been fully risked by the Company's management.  Actual quantities that may be ultimately recovered from the Company's interests will differ substantially.  Factors affecting ultimate recovery include the scope of the Company's drilling program, which will be directly affected by the availability of capital, drilling and production costs, commodity prices, availability of drilling services and equipment, drilling results, lease expirations, transportation constraints, regulatory approvals, field spacing rules, recoveries of gas in place, length of horizontal laterals, actual drilling results, including geological and mechanical factors affecting recovery rates and other factors. Estimates of resource potential may change significantly as development of our resource plays provides additional data. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our other filings, available from our website at www.snrv.com or by written request to 5950 Berkshire Lane, Suite 1650, Dallas, Texas 75225. You can also obtain these documents by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330.

SOURCE Sun River Energy, Inc.