London, United Kingdom; Calgary, Canada: December 20, 2023 - Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited and its affiliates ("COPL" or the "Company") (XOP: CSE) & (COPL: LSE), an international oil and gas exploration, production and development company with operations focused in Converse and Natrona counties, Wyoming, USA, provides an update on its Senior Credit Facility.

The Company's indirect affiliate, COPL America, Inc., received a Notice of Default that indicated, among other things, the senior lender is unwilling to further amend or waive the terms of its Senior Credit Facility. Without an amendment or waiver from the Senior Credit Facility Lender, the Company's indirect affiliate, COPL America, Inc., will be in breach of the terms of the Senior Credit Facility on or before January 1, 2024.

The Company anticipates that it will require additional financing in January 2024. Should the Company be unsuccessful in raising the required capital, it would have to seek some form of creditor protection. There can be no assurances that financing will be found, or that the Company will not be able to avoid a creditor protection process in its principal jurisdiction of incorporation.

The Company is considering all of its options in relation to its future.

About the Company:

COPL is an international oil and gas exploration, development and production company actively pursuing opportunities in the United States with operations in Wyoming.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Tom Richardson, Chairman

Mr. Ryan Gaffney, CFO

Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited 

Tel: + 1 (403) 262 5441

Cathy Hume

CHF Investor Relations

Tel: +1 (416) 868 1079 ext. 251

Email: cathy@chfir.com

Charles Goodwin

Yellow Jersey PR Limited

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512

Email: copl@yellowjerseypr.com

Peter Krens

Equity Capital Markets, Tennyson Securities

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7186 9033

Andrew Chubb / Neil Passmore 

Advisors/Joint Brokers

Hannam & Partners  

+44 (0) 20 7907 8500

The Common Shares are listed under the symbol "XOP" on the CSE and under the symbol "COPL" on the London Stock Exchange.

Market Abuse Regulation disclosure

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information pursuant to Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 as amended ("MAR") encompassing information relating to the Placing described above, and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. In addition, market soundings (as defined in MAR) were taken in respect of the Placing with the result that certain persons became aware of inside information (as defined in MAR), as permitted by MAR. This inside information is set out in this Announcement. Therefore, upon publication of this announcement, those persons that received such inside information in a market sounding are no longer in possession of such inside information relating to the Company and its securities.

Caution regarding forward looking statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "initial, "scheduled", "can", "will", "prior to", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "should", "forecast", "future", "continue", "may", "expect", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including, but not limited to, the ability to raise the necessary funding for operations, delays, or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements since the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties most of which are beyond the control of Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd. For example, the uncertainty of reserve estimates, the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, cost overruns, health and safety issues, political and environmental risks, commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations, changes in legislation affecting the oil and gas industry could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and Canadian Overseas Petroleum undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.

This announcement has been issued by and is the sole responsibility of the Company. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made as to, or in relation to, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by the Company (apart from the responsibilities or liabilities that may be imposed by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, or the regulatory regime established thereunder) or by any of its affiliates or agents as to, or in relation to, the accuracy or completeness of this announcement or any other written or oral information made available to or publicly available to any interested party or its advisers, and any liability therefore is expressly disclaimed.