Mr. Dave Roberts reports

PENN WEST ANNOUNCES $355 MILLION NON-CORE ASSET DISPOSITION

Penn West Petroleum Ltd. has signed an agreement to sell non-core assets located in south-central Alberta for expected proceeds of approximately $355-million to a private company. The assets are currently producing approximately 7,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day (weighted approximately 80 per cent toward natural gas and natural gas liquids). The disposition represents less than 5 per cent of the company's proved and probable reserve base, estimated at Dec. 31, 2013, to be 625 million barrels of oil equivalent. Subject to the satisfaction of customary regulatory and other closing conditions, the company expects the transaction to close in early December, 2014. CIBC World Markets Inc. acted as financial adviser to Penn West on the transaction.

The sale provides attractive sale metrics of approximately $47,000 per flowing barrel. The disposition further reduces Penn West's well bore count by approximately 2,250 gross wells, which is expected to have a favourable impact on the company's asset retirement obligation. These assets are considered non-core to Penn West and were not allocated any current or future development capital under the company's long-term plan.

Dave Roberts, president and chief executive officer, commented: "Following closing of this sale, Penn West will have completed over $1-billion in asset sales within the first year of our long-term plan. Further, as a result of these combined divestments, a favourable commodity price environment early in the year and strong operational improvements, we will have reduced our debt position by over $1.2-billion during that same period -- a positive step forward in our improvement story. In November, 2013, the company announced a plan to reduce its debt through the disposition of non-core producing and non-producing assets in the range of $1.5- to $2.0-billion. We are now directing our disposition efforts to non-producing assets as we continue to increase the focus on our core areas and improve our financial flexibility through a considerably stronger balance sheet."

Outlook

Including the impact of this disposition, Penn West reiterates 2014 production guidance of 101,000 to 106,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, weighted approximately 66 per cent to oil and liquids. However, the company now expects full-year average volumes for 2014 to be above the midpoint of this range, reflecting better than expected performance and reliability in the company's base production and strong performance in new production growth from development programs in each of its three core light oil areas.

Commenting on the current crude oil environment, Penn West's chief financial officer, David Dyck, stated: "Consistent with our view that a reasonable long-term price assumption for crude oil is in the $85-(U.S.)-per-barrel range, we built our long-term plan on an $87.50-(U.S.)-per-barrel price assumption for 2015, 2016 and 2017. As we continue to improve on our operational execution capability in each of the company's core light oil areas, we are confident that our long-term plan is intact and generates rates of return as expected in the current commodity and foreign exchange environment."

This outlook section is included to provide shareholders with information about the company's expectations as at the date of this release for, among other things, 2014 production guidance and readers are cautioned that the information may not be appropriate for any other purpose.

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