Gran Tierra Energy Inc. Announces Revised 2020 Capital Program

• Decisive Action Taken to Reduce 2020 Capital Program in Response to Decrease in Oil Prices
  
• Reduction in Capital Program From $200-220 Million to $60-80 Million, Maintaining Balance Sheet Strength  
  
• Acordionero Field Remains Main Focus of 2020 Development Activity

CALGARY, Alberta, March 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gran Tierra Energy Inc. ("Gran Tierra" or the "Company") (NYSE American:GTE) (TSX:GTE) (LSE:GTE), today announced revisions to its 2020 capital program in response to recent commodity price volatility. All dollar amounts are in United States (“U.S.”) dollars, unless otherwise indicated.

Gary Guidry, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gran Tierra, commented: "We operate 29 of our 31 blocks and over 95% of our producing assets and therefore have significant control over capital allocation and timing. As a result of current and foreseeable oil price weakness, we have reduced operating activities and our capital program. We plan to continue operating at reduced activity levels until there are clear signs of a recovery in oil prices. We are revising our 2020 capital budget to a maintenance range of $60 to 80 million and are implementing reductions in operating costs and general and administrative expenses (“G&A”). In addition to reducing our costs, we are also benefiting from the recent depreciation of the Canadian dollar and Colombian peso. The Colombian peso has declined 15% versus the U.S. dollar from our original budget estimate. The majority of our operating costs and G&A within Colombia are denominated in Colombian pesos. All of our G&A in Canada is denominated in Canadian dollars.

We have elected to shut-in 1,000 to 1,500 barrels of oil per day of higher cost production to focus on our core, low cost, higher netback production. While these decisions are expected to result in lower production than originally forecast, Gran Tierra is focused on protecting the Company’s balance sheet and preserving value over the long term. At current oil prices, over 95% of our production is generating positive netbacks.

Despite this planned reduction in capital investment, we remain focused on the continued development of the Acordionero, Costayaco, Cohembi and Moqueta oil fields (“Core Assets”). We plan to direct the majority of our revised 2020 program to the Core Assets.  We will continue with regulatory, planning and land access activities on key future growth projects which have a minimal cost but can take a significant period of time to complete.