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EXHIBIT 99.1
On January 16, 2001, the Registrant issued the following press release:
PYR ENERGY REPORTS FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER ENDED
NOVEMBER 30, 2000
DENVER -- PYR Energy Corporation (AMEX:PYR) today announced that for the
first fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2000, the Company had a net loss of
$147,218 or 0.7 cents ($.007) per common share, compared with a net loss of
$165,627 or 1.1 cents ($.011) per common share for the corresponding quarter
ended November 30, 1999. The Company has had no revenues from the sale of oil or
natural gas production.
Interest income was $111,128 and $56,842 for the quarters ended November
30, 2000 and 1999, respectively. The increase in interest income for the
recently completed quarter resulted from additional cash received from a private
placement completed in August 2000. General and administrative expenses were
$254,248 and $217,845 for the quarters ended November 30, 2000 and 1999,
respectively. The increase for the quarter ended November 30, 2000 resulted
primarily from increases in investor and stockholder relations expense.
In November 2000, the Company acquired an additional 1.544% working
interest at the East Lost Hills Natural Gas exploration project in the San
Joaquin Basin of California, increasing PYR's total working interest to
12.1193%.
During the quarter ended November 30, 2000, all of the 14,263.41 shares of
the Company's Series A Convertible Preferred Stock were converted into a total
of 2,377,234 shares of common stock.
At November 30, 2000, the Company had cash of $4,618,899, working capital
of $4,632,520, total assets of $20,363,201, current liabilities of $65,747 and
total stockholders' equity of $20,297,454. There were 21,689,053 shares of
common stock outstanding at November 30, 2000.
OPERATIONS:
At the Company's previously announced East Lost Hills discovery well, the
ELH #1, physical construction and installation of a transportation pipeline and
on-site production facilities are in the final stages of completion. PYR
estimates that natural gas and condensate production from this well will
commence in February 2001.
The ELH #2 step-out well, located approximately 1.5 miles northwest of the
ELH #1 well, has been drilled and cased to a depth of 18,011 feet. Completion
operations have begun to test this well as a potential gas producer.
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At the ELH #3 well, intermediate casing is being run to a current depth of
approximately 18,900 feet with the intent to continue drilling to lower depths.
This well is designed to test a geologically separate feature from the structure
encountered by the Company's drilling activities at East Lost Hills.
The ELH #4 well, located approximately 4.5 miles southeast of the ELH #1
well, commenced drilling operations on November 26, 2000. This well is currently
drilling below 12,400 feet, with a total depth targeted at 20,000 feet.
Berkley Petroleum, Inc. (TSE:BKP) is the operator for all four of these
East Lost Hills wells.
Denver-based PYR Energy is a natural gas and oil exploration company with
activities focused in the San Joaquin Basin of California and in select areas of
the Rocky Mountain region. Additional information about PYR Energy Corporation
can be accessed via the Company's web site at www.pyrenergy.com.
# # #
This release contains forward-looking statements regarding PYR Energy
Corporation's future plans and expected performance based on assumptions the
Company believes to be reasonable. A number of risks and uncertainties could
cause actual results to differ materially from these statements, including,
without limitation, the success rate of exploration efforts and the timeliness
of development activities, fluctuations in oil and gas prices, and other risk
factors described from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the SEC.
In addition, the Company operates in an industry sector where securities values
are highly volatile and may be influenced by economic and other factors beyond
the Company's control."
