BELLAMONT EXPLORATION LTD. ANNOUNCES ITS 2011 CAPITAL BUDGET AND GUIDANCE

CALGARY, Dec. 16 /CNW/ -- 
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN
 THE UNITED STATES


CALGARY, Dec. 16 /CNW/ - Bellamont Exploration Ltd. (the "Corporation"
 or "Bellamont") (TSXV:BMX.A) (TSXV:BMX.B) is pleased to provide a
 summary of its 2011 capital budget and guidance.


Bellamont's Board of Directors has approved a $27 million capital budget
 for 2011. The vast majority of the budget is planned to be funded out
 of cash flow, supplemented by the Corporation's recently expanded
 operating credit facility. 


Approximately 90% of the budget will target low risk light oil drilling
 opportunities and will include a total of 13 wells (11.2 net).  The
 primary focus will be continued development of the Corporation's
 Montney oil pools in Grimshaw, Grande Prairie and Rycroft and Doe Creek
 oil pools in Saddlehills, all via horizontal multi-staged fraced
 wells.  All of these projects are located in Alberta and will qualify
 for the new horizontal oil royalty rate of 5.0%.  The expected average
 operating netback from these drilling locations is in excess of
 $50/boe. In total, the Corporation expects over 50% growth in its oil
 and natural gas liquids production from 2010.


Highlights of the 2011 capital budget are as follows:







Capital expenditures                  $27 million

Average yearly production             2,850 Boe/d (47.0% oil and
                                      liquids)

Year-end production                   3,250 Boe/d (50.0 % oil and
                                      liquids)

Funds generated from operations       $25 million

  - per share                         $0.16

Average operating netback             $28/Boe

Year end debt                         $35 million

Oil price (WTI)                       $85.00 (US$)

Natural gas price (AECO)              $3.60 (Can$/GJ)

US/CDN Exchange rate                  0.98






Bellamont's objective is to achieve superior growth on a per share basis
 while maintaining a conservative 1.5 X debt to cash flow.  The planned
 budget is expected to deliver annual per share growth of approximately
 20.0% on average daily production and 40% on funds generated from
 operations, while ending the year with a 1.2X debt to cash flow.
 Bellamont's balance sheet strength will provide it the flexibility to
 accelerate additional capital projects, such as initiating water flood
 projects at its Grimshaw Montney and Grande Prairie Dunvegan oil
 pools.  The capital budget does not include corporate or property
 acquisitions, which are separately considered and evaluated.   


The Corporation has the following active risk management contracts in
 place for 2011:


i)     100 Bbl/d;  January 2011, WTI - CAD, costless collar - $75.00 x 
 $87.90;
ii)    100 Bbl/d; January 2011 -  April 2011, WTI - CAD, costless collar
 - $70.00 x  $93.10;
iii)    200 Bbl/d; January 2011 -  December 2011, WTI - USD,  fixed
 price swap;  $88.55; and,
iv)    100 Bbl/d; February 2011 - December 2011, WTI - USD, costless
 collar - $81.00 x $95.10.


Bellamont has a deep inventory of over $100 million of capital projects
 on its lands, which should deliver growth for several years beyond
 2011.   Bellamont's strategy is to build a low risk reserve, production
 and cash flow base through acquiring, developing and exploring
 primarily in the Peace River Arch area of Alberta. Bellamont has a
 strong technically focused management team that internally generates
 and develops high quality large resource based prospects. 


Bellamont is an oil and gas company focused on the acquisition,
 exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas in
 western Canada and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbols
 "BMX.A" and "BMX.B".  The Corporation has 140,787,699 Class A shares
 and 1,012,000 Class B shares outstanding.


FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS


The 2011 capital budget and guidance provides shareholders with
 information on Management's expectations for results of operations,
 excluding any acquisitions for 2011. Readers are cautioned that the
 2011 capital budget and guidance may not be appropriate for other
 purposes. 


This press release is primarily comprised of forward-looking statements
 as to the Corporation's internal projections, expectations or beliefs
 relating to future events or future performance, including the
 Corporation's 2011 guidance and the amount of 2011 budgeted capital
 expenditures set forth herein. In some cases, forward-looking
 statements can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will",
 "should", "expects", "projects", "plans", "anticipates" and similar
 expressions but are contained in virtually every paragraph of this news
 release. These statements represent management's expectations or
 beliefs concerning, among other things, future capital expenditures and
 future operating results and various components thereof or the economic
 performance of Bellamont. The projections, estimates and beliefs
 contained in such forward-looking statements are based on Management's
 assumptions relating to the production performance of Bellamont's oil
 and gas assets, the cost and competition for services throughout the
 oil and gas industry in 2011, the results of exploration and
 development activities during 2011, the market price for oil and gas,
 expectations regarding the availability of capital, estimates as to the
 size of reserves and resources, and the continuation of the current
 regulatory and tax regime in Canada, and necessarily involve known and
 unknown risks and uncertainties inherent in exploration and development
 activities, geological, technical, drilling and processing problems and
 other risks and uncertainties, including the business risks discussed
 in management's discussion and analysis and Bellamont's annual
 information form, which may cause actual performance and financial
 results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of
 future performance or results expressed or implied by such
 forward-looking statements. The internal projections, expectations or
 beliefs are based on the 2011 budget which is subject to change in
 light of ongoing results, prevailing economic circumstances, commodity
 prices and industry conditions and regulations. Accordingly, readers
 are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to
 differ materially from those predicted. The Corporation does not
 undertake to update any forward-looking information in this document
 whether as to new information, future events or otherwise except as
 required by securities rules and regulations.


OIL AND GAS ADVISORY


This press release contains disclosure expressed as "Boe/d". All oil and
 natural gas equivalency volumes have been derived using the ratio of
 six thousand cubic feet of natural gas to one barrel of oil.
 Equivalency measures may be misleading, particularly if used in
 isolation. A conversion ratio of six thousand cubic feet of natural gas
 to one barrel of oil is based on an energy equivalency conversion
 method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a
 value equivalency at the well head.


Neither the 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.


Not for distribution to U.S. newswire services or for dissemination in
 the United States.  Any failure to comply with this restriction may
 constitute a violation of U.S. securities law.



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pSteve Moran, President and Chief Executive Officer, [phone]; orbr/ Tavis Carlson, Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer, (403)  802-0117br/ 1208, 250 - 2supnd/sup Street S.W. Calgary, Alberta T2T 5S8br/ Email: a href="mailto:[e-mail]"[e-mail]/abr/ a href="http://www.bellamont.com"www.bellamont.com/a/p

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