Thunderbird Energy Year End Update

Thunderbird Energy Corp. (TSX VENTURE:TBD) ("Thunderbird" or the "Company")
today provided an update on operations.


Gordon Creek - Natural Gas

Drilling operations are continuing at the Company's Gordon Creek natural gas
field, in the first phase of a planned drilling and workover program to consist
of 50 new wells and 5 workovers of existing wells over the next 2 years. The
company experienced various delays during the start up of operations in the 4th
quarter as a result of substandard performance by certain key service companies,
specifically the surveyor and the original drilling contractor. These issues led
to permitting and drilling delays. These suppliers have been replaced and
drilling operations resumed in January. 


The Company is currently operating in the north-western area of the project on
privately owned lands that lie outside of the winter closure zones that apply to
most State and Federal lands in the Gordon Creek area. To date, three wells have
been drilled to depth, logged and cased for production and drilling of the 4th
well is nearing total depth. An additional 6 surface holes were drilled and
cased in January by a separate, smaller drilling rig that was employed for that
purpose. This should speed up future drilling and ultimately reduce overall
drilling costs. 


Based on log analysis, all three wells drilled to depth so far encountered the
Ferron formation as expected, with apparent sand and coal pay thicknesses that
equaled or exceeded the Company's prognosis. Initial production rates will not
be determinable until the wells are fracture stimulated, equipped and tied in
accordance with the Company's Gordon Creek best practices protocol. The Company
anticipates mobilizing a frac crew to Gordon Creek, once an additional 4 to 6
wells have been drilled and cased, which is anticipated to occur in March or
early April. The workover operations are scheduled to commence following the end
of the winter closure restrictions on April 15.


"We are encouraged by the sand and coal pay thicknesses that we are seeing on
the logs, particularly as we step out farther from existing production", stated
Rick Ironside, President of Thunderbird. "Now that we are beyond the start-up
stage, we are also very pleased with how the operations are proceeding and
becoming more efficient."


A substantial portion of the funding for these operations is being provided
through a $25 million commodity stream agreement with Sandstorm Metals & Energy
("Sandstorm") announced July 13, 2011. As a result of the start up delays
referred to above, and the current depressed state of natural gas prices, the
Company and Sandstorm have agreed upon a revised operational schedule whereby
the Company's commitments under the Sandstorm agreement have been deferred by
one year. Specifically, the date for completion of the requirement to drill 15
new wells and complete 5 workover operations has been deferred until December
31, 2012 and the requirement to drill the remaining 35 wells will be deferred to
December 31, 2013. The minimum volume requirements and/or cash flow guarantees
as set out in the Sandstorm agreement will also be deferred a full 12 months,
such that the first guarantee threshold will be December 31, 2013. The Company
can accelerate the program as conditions change.


As consideration for these deferments, the Company has agreed to pay Sandstorm a
fee of $2,550,000, to be paid in shares of the Company in February 2013, based
on the market value of the Company's shares at that time. "We are very pleased
to have worked out the revised commitment schedule with Sandstorm" stated
Cameron White, CEO of Thunderbird. "The new schedule allows us to time to roll
out our development program over the next 2 years, in a way that will maximize
the utilization of our resources and capital without time pressures, and will
permit us the opportunity to build up our production and cash flows in order to
avoid triggering minimum cash flow guarantees under the agreement. Moreover, the
deferment of stage 2 drilling until next year, could very well improve long term
cash flows to both Thunderbird and Sandstorm as natural gas markets improve."


During the recently completed fiscal year, the Company also expanded its land
position by acquiring an additional 2925 net acres of mineral interests adjacent
to the existing Gordon Creek lands. The Company currently owns a total of
roughly 10,000 acres at Gordon Creek that, based on current spacing, has
approximately 65 undrilled locations. Permits have been issued for the initial
stage 15 well drilling program and permitting of an additional 40 locations is
underway.


The Company has retained GLJ Petroleum Consultants of Calgary, Alberta to
prepare a valuation of the Company's Gordon Creek project as at January 31,
2012, in accordance with NI 51-101. Given that active operations are continuing,
consideration is also being given to preparing a mid-year valuation update
following the first or second quarter of this year.


Gordon Creek - CO2

The Company also wishes to provide an update on the previously announced
Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration's (SWP) Carbon Capture
and Storage (CCS) deployment phase at Gordon Creek. The Company has been advised
that Department of Energy (DOE) funding has recently been instructed by the US
administration to terminate funding for all CCS projects of this nature. As part
of the termination procedure, the Company will be billing the SWP for recovery
of a substantial amount of expenditures incurred over the past 2 years. One
significant benefit has been work done to upgrade our injection well in
anticipation of injecting water and CO2. The capacity of the well has been
increased from approximately 2500 barrels of water per day to an estimated
10,000+ barrels per day. Owing in large part to funding by the DOE the company
should now have sufficient injection capacity to handle all of the anticipated
water production from the 50 new drill and 5 workovers. 


The revised focus of the DOE is on Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage
(CCUS), which would encompass operations like enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
utilizing CO2. While EOR will indeed be the primary focus of the Company's
ongoing development of Gordon Creek CO2, the SWP project was not able to change
its focus and achieve the DOE mandated objectives within the current calendar
year. While the Company is disappointed by this sudden change in policy, work
conducted by the SWP and related entities over the past 2 years has made an
important contribution to the Company's understanding of the CO2 underlying
Gordon Creek, as well as its development and market potential. Geological
studies conducted by the USGS, the University of Utah and others, based in part
on a series of test wells drilled in the 1960's and 1970's have estimated the
Gordon Creek CO2 resource at anywhere from 140BCF to 1.3 TCF. 


The Company plans to aggressively pursue commercial development of this
potential resource with a focus on enhanced oil recovery, and has begun
discussions with potential development partners and end users. One of the key
members of the SWP - the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR)
a division of the University of Utah - will continue to work with the Company to
provide ongoing scientific research and analysis.


Wyoming - Niobrara Oil

During the year, an initial vertical test well was drilled on the Company's
Weston County lands that are prospective for Niobrara oil shales, as well as a
number of deeper conventional oil horizons. The deeper Dakota Sandstone, which
was the primary target of the well, was determined based on log interpretation,
not to be commercially prospective for oil. However, oil shows were encountered
as the well was drilled through the Niobrara formation. The Niobrara is an
evolving shale oil play in Colorado and Wyoming that is typically exploited
through horizontal multi-frac drilling. The Company is closely monitoring the
exploration efforts of other companies in the eastern Wyoming Niobrara fairway
as activities move north towards the Company's Weston County lands. 


Thunderbird Energy is a Canadian-based oil and gas exploration and production
Company with interests in the US Rockies and mid-continent regions.


Caution Regarding Forward- looking information

Information in this news release respecting anticipated natural gas and oil
development operations and the carbon sequestration project constitutes
forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information
express, as at the date of this news release, the Company's plans, expectations,
or beliefs as to future events or results are believed to be reasonable based on
the information currently available to the Company. The Company does not
undertake to update any such forward-looking statements unless required by
applicable securities legislation. 


Statements including forward-looking information involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results of the
Company and its operations to be materially different from estimated costs or
results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. 


There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be
accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking information.