SASKATOON, SK, May 26, 2023 /CNW/ - Royal Helium Ltd. (TSXV: RHC) (TSXV: RHC.WT) (OTCQB: RHCCF) ("Royal" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Karl F. Kurz to the Board of Directors.

Mr. Kurz has over forty years of energy industry experience in the public and private markets, including serving as the Chief Operating Officer for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation from December 2006 through March 2009, which was acquired by Occidental Petroleum (OXY: NYSE) in one of the largest merger and acquisitions in oil and gas history for USD $55 billion in 2019. In that role, Mr. Kurz had responsibility for global exploration and production, marketing, midstream, land, technology, and engineering services. Karl joined Anadarko in 2000 and held various leadership positions in the marketing, midstream, exploration, and production areas. Mr. Kurz currently serves on the public boards of several multi-billion-dollar corporations, Devon Energy (DVN: NYSE), Texas Pacific Land Corp (TPL: NYSE) and American Water Works (AWK: NYSE) where he is the non-executive independent Chairman of the Board.

Andrew Davidson President and CEO comments. "We are pleased to have Karl join the Royal team as we expand our focus from helium exploration to now include production and sales. His senior management experience with some of America's largest energy corporations will be invaluable as Royal expands its operations in Canada and increasingly in the US. An advanced understanding of midstream and marketing of gas will be a major component of our business success going forward, and we are very fortunate to benefit from Karl's top tier experience."

More recently, Karl was an operating adviser with Ares Capital, a leading specialty finance company, providing support on prospective and existing energy transactions. Karl was also a Managing Director with CCMP Capital Advisors, LLC and Co-Head of the Energy Group from September 2009 to September 2012. CCMP Capital Advisors is a leading global private equity firm specializing in buyouts and growth equity investments in companies ranging from $500 million to more than $3 billion in size.

Mr. Kurz began his career with ARCO Oil & Gas Company in 1983 and spent the early portion of his career in various upstream, marketing, and midstream roles. He holds a Bachelor of Science in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1983. He is also a graduate of Harvard's Advanced Management Program in 2008. 

Royal Helium also announces the grant of 500,000 stock options pursuant to the Company's stock option plan to certain consultants and advisors to the Company. The options are exercisable at $0.40 per share and, if not exercised, expire May 25, 2028, subject to earlier expiration in accordance with the stock option plan and the applicable policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Royal is an exploration, production and infrastructure company with a primary focus on the development and production of helium. The Company controls over 1,000,000 acres of prospective helium permits and leases across southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta. Given the current and foreseeable global undersupplied nature of this critical and non-renewable product, Royal is well positioned to be a leading North American producer of this increasingly high value commodity.

Royal's helium reservoirs are carried primarily with nitrogen. Nitrogen is not considered a greenhouse gas (GHG) and therefore has a low GHG footprint when compared to other jurisdictions that rely on large scale natural gas production for helium extraction. Helium extracted from wells in Saskatchewan and Alberta can be up to 90% less carbon intensive than helium extraction processes in other jurisdictions.

Andrew Davidson,
President and CEO
Royal Helium Ltd

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.