Wind River Energy Corp's Phat City 51-101 Report Indicates Long Term Potential of Between $145 and $2,278 Million (NPV-10) for Nisku Formation

WIND RIVER ENERGY CORP.

1010 - 609 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V7Y 1G5
Tel: [phone]

This Press Release is not for dissemination in the United States Wind River Energy Corp's Phat City 51-101 Report Indicates Long Term Potential of Between $145 and $2,278 Million (NPV-10) for Nisku Formation January 18, 2012 - Denver, Colorado TSX-V: WVR

Wind River Energy Corp / TSX-V:WVR ("Wind River" or the "Company") announces the results from the
51-101 reserve report (the "51-101 Report") on certain of its properties, including the Company's Phat City project in Montana. The 51-101 Report provides an assessment of the amount and value of the potential resource owned by Wind River in the two formations in Phat City discovered by the Company. The two formations within the Phat City Project, called the Nisku and the Bakken/Three Forks formations, are confirmed to have oil in place based on the discovery well drilled by Wind River in late 2011.
Wind River is currently waiting for drilling equipment to drill its second development well in the Phat City
Project.
The 51-101 Report, written by petroleum engineering firm Integrated Petroleum Technologies Inc., projected a potential recoverable oil resource in the Nisku formation, of between 156,000 to 838,000 barrels of oil per well and estimates between 125 and 170 Nisku wells could be drilled within the Phat City Project. That equates to between $145,000,000 and $2,278,000,000 in net present value for Wind River from the Nisku formation of the Phat City Project alone.
In addition, the 51-101 Report identified that there is potential recoverable oil in the Bakken /Three Forks formation within Wind River's 56,785 acre Phat City Project of between 46,000 to 348,000 barrels of oil, per well on 80 acre spacing units.
The full version of the 51-101 Reserve and Resource report on Wind River's various projects issued by Integrated Petroleum Technologies Inc. can be found on Wind River's SEDAR filings, on the SEDAR website with a Material Change Report, dated January 17, 2012.
"People ask me why the financial markets are down and I cannot answer for that. What I can talk about, and develop for our shareholders, is value from the resources we have discovered. These are significant numbers for any company. The financial markets can catch up." stated Alan O'Hare, CEO of Wind River Energy Corp.
The 51-101 Report was prepared by Integrated Petroleum Technologies, Inc. ("IPT.") IPT was retained by Wind River to prepare an evaluation under Canadian Standards National Instrument 51-101 regarding three of Wind River's projects. The evaluation provided in the 51-101 Report is based on interpretation of technical data including geological maps, wells logs, petro-physical analysis, cross-sections, engineering materials and other information supplied by Wind River, and published information. IPT is a qualified reserves evaluator and has prepared the 51-101 report in accordance with the COGE Handbook.
An appendix of abbreviations used in the 51-101 Report and in this release is located below.

Phat City Prospect

Wind River has a 70.3125% interest in 45,742 acres in the "Phat City Prospect." The Phat City Prospect is located in Valley County of northeastern Montana near the town of Glasgow. Wind River drilled the Cornwell 1-14 well in November 2011 within the project. The Nisku and the Three Forks (Bakken) formations were penetrated and are identified in the 51-101 report as prospective resources.

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Phat City Nisku

The Cornwell 1-14 well encountered two benches of the Nisku. The upper bench was oil saturated and the lower bench was water bearing. A ten foot thick dense dolomite interval separates the upper and lower Nisku benches. A completion attempt was unsuccessful due to excessive water production from the lower bench. Attempts to shut off the water from the lower bench were unsuccessful. The 51-101 report estimates potential per-well recoveries based on engineering analysis of information obtained from the Cornwell1-14 well, data from other wells in the area, and two nearby analog fields, Tule Creek and Tule Creek East Fields. The Tule Creek East Field recovered 10.6 MMstbo (million stock tank barrels) and 2.7
BCF from seven wells which equates to an average recovery of 1.5 MMstbo and 0.4 BCF per well. A
stock tank barrel is one barrel of stabilized gas free oil at the surface.
The following table summarizes the attributes assigned to the upper Nusku in the 51-101 report:

Table 3: Summary of Phat City Nisku prospective resource (per 160 acres).

Wind River Working Interest	High Estimate Oil in Place/160 acres (Mstbo)	Low Estimate Oil in Place/160 acres (Mstbo)	High Estimate Recoverable Oil/160 acres (Mstbo)	Low Estimate Recoverable Oil/160 acres (Mstbo)
Total	1,710	840	838	156
Wind River Gross	1,202	590	589	110
Wind River Net	961	472	471	88

The 51-101 Report estimates potential prospective oil and gas recoverable resource from a single 160 acre spacing unit. The resource estimate is presented as a total for a single well, and as Wind River's net share. The net share figure takes into account both the Company's working interest share and the impact of royalties. IPT's high estimate of Gross Recoverable Oil per 160 acre spacing unit is 838,000 stock tank barrels and the low estimate is 156,000 stock tank barrels. The 51-101 report states that there is potential for 125 to 170 drillable locations within Wind River's acreage. This equates to 142 MMBO of potentially recoverable oil for the high case (838 Mstbo/well x 170 wells) and 19.5 MMBO for the low case (156 MSTBO/well x 125 wells).
The 51-101 report also projects potential single-well economics based upon 12/30/11 NYMEX pricing less
$12/BO (initially, oil at $86.83 per BO, gas at $3.63 per Mcf). Total drill and complete cost is estimated at
$1.5 million per well. Wind River's cost share of the next well in the project is 93.7% and Wind River's cost share of subsequent wells (development wells) wells will be 70.3%. For a development well, the 51-
101 report projects that an investment by Wind River of $1.05 million would result in a NPV-10 value of
$13.4 million per well and an internal rate of return of 400% in the high case, and an NPV-10 value of
$1.16 million and internal rate of return of 32% for the low case. This equates to a potential NPV-10 value net to Wind River of $ 2,278 million for the high case ($13.4 million per well x 170 wells) and $145 million for the low case ($1.16 million per well x 125 wells).
A geologic analysis prepared by Mr. Curtis Ditzell of Ditzell Exploration and Production, LLC dated
December 19, 2011 is attached to the 51-101 report.

Phat City Three Forks (Bakken)

The Three Forks (Bakken) formation is also identified in the 51-101 report as a prospective resource. The Cornwell 1-14 well penetrated 70 feet of Three Forks interval. No attempt was made to complete the Three Forks formation for production in the Cornwell 1-14 well since management believes horizontal well completions will be required to effectively exploit the Three Forks formation. The table below summarizes the attributes established in the evaluation of the Three Forks formation in the 51-101 report:

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Table 4: Summary of Phat City Three Forks prospective resource (per 80 acres)

Wind River Working Interest	High Estimate Oil in Place/80 acres (Mstbo)	Low Estimate Oil in Place/80 acres (Mstbo)	High Estimate Recoverable Oil/80 acres (Mstbo)	Low Estimate Recoverable Oil/80 acres (Mstbo)
Total	1,159	579	348	46
Wind River Gross	815	407	244	32
Wind River Net	652	326	196	26

The 51-101 report estimates potential prospective oil and gas recoverable resource from a single 80 acre spacing unit. The resource estimate is presented as a total for a single well, and as Wind River's net share. The net share figure takes into account both the Company's working interest share and the impact of royalties. The 51-101 report's high estimate of Gross Recoverable Oil per 80 acre spacing unit is
348,000 stock tank barrels and the low estimate is 46,000 stock tank barrels. Management believes that the Three Forks will be best exploited by utilizing horizontal drilling and completion techniques and that individual well recovery using these techniques will exceed the 80 acre potential recoveries reported in the above table.

Day Butte Field

The Day Butte field is located in Fremont County Wyoming. The Day Butte Field produces from the Lower Ft. Union Formation at depths up to 9,704 feet. Wind River owns a 100% working interest in the Day Butte Federal 1-17 well, which is currently the only producing well in the field, as well as 1,578 acres in the vicinity. Wind River's acreage is included within the Moneta Divide project proposed by Encana Corporation, Noble Energy, and Conoco/Phillips. The Moneta Divide project is projected to have 4,200 wells drilled to recover gas from the Ft. Union formation within the next 10 years.
Wind River has applied for drilling permits for two wells offsetting the Day Butte Federal 1-17 well and expects that the drilling permits will allow for drilling of the wells in Q3 2012.
The following tables summarize the developed and undeveloped reserves assigned to the Day Butte
Field in the 51-101 report:

Table 1: Wind River developed reserves.

Area	Reserve Category	100% (MMscf)	Gas Reserves Gross (MMscf)	Gas Reserves Net (MMscf)	Oil Reserves Gross (Mbbl)	Oil Reserves Net (Mbbl)
Day Butte	Proved	229	229	188	1.8	1.5
Day Butte	Possible	2,997	2,997	2,458	24.0	19.7
Day Butte	P+P	3,226	3,226	2,646	25.8	22.2
Net Present Value
		0% (M$)	6% (M$)	10% (M$)	16% (M$)	20% (M$)

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Day Butte	Proved	493	360	302	242	213
Day Butte	Possible	11,522	6,287	4,684	3,345	2,801
Day Butte	P+P	12,015	6,647	4,986	3,587	3,014

Table 2: Wind River undeveloped reserves

Area	Reserve Category	Gross (MMscf)	Net (MMscf)	Oil Gross (Mbbl)	Oil Net (Mbbl)
Ft Union/Day Butte	Probable	9,716	7,967	77.7	63.7
Ft Union/Day Butte	Possible	10,490	8,602	84.0	69.0
Ft Union/Day Butte	Possible	93,667	81,958	749.3	655.7

The report indicates that Wind River's total developed reserves are 2,646 MMscf with an NPV10 of
$4.986 million. Wind River's net undeveloped reserves are reported as 98,527 MMscf. Reserves are summarized by category below:

Category	Gross MMscf	Net MMscf	Gross MBO	Net MBO
Proved	229	188	1.8	1.5
Probable	9,716	7,967	77.7	63.7
Total Proved & Probable (P1)	9,945	8,155	79.5	65.2
Possible	107,154	93,018	857.3	744.4
Total Reserves	117,099	101,173	936.8	809.6

Day Butte Field development single well economics.

The 51-101 report analyzed the projected economics of development wells on Wind River's Day Butte properties. Reserves assigned to the deeper intervals (comparable to 9,290' to 9,704' in the Federal 1-17 well) were classified as probable. Reserves assigned to shallower intervals (8,502' to 9,290' in the Fed 1-
17 well) were classified as possible. Gas and oil prices were based on CIG (Wyoming) strip pricing as of
12-30-2011. The results of the analysis are summarized below:

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Day Butte single well economics (80 acre spacing)

Category	Probable	Possible	Total
Gross MMscf	2,776	2,997	5,773
Net MMscf	2,276	2,458	4,734
Gross Mstbo	22.2	24	46.2
Net Mstbo	18.2	19.7	37.9
Investment M$	2,000	500	2,500
Rate-of- return (%)	40	400	200
Return on Investment	5.5:1	23.6:1	8.2:1
NPV10 (M$)	2,922	4,684	7,606

Emerald Forest Project

The Emerald Forest Project is located in Uinta County, Wyoming. Wind River owns 2,240 acres in the project. The Emerald Forest Project is identified in the 51-101 report as a prospective resource. The potential gas reservoir is located at about 5,500 feet deep. Petrographic and petrophysical analyses of a well which was drilled in 1985 were utilized in the analysis as well as other data. A summary of reservoir parameters derived from the study is shown below:

Table 20: Single well reservoir parameter (80 acre) - Emerald Forest Frontier

Reservoir Parameters	Single Well
Reservoir flow regime	Radial
Initial pressure (psi)	2,600
High estimate net pay thickness (ft)	193
Low estimate net pay thickness	100
Porosity (%)	12.6
Water saturation (%)	38.3
Reservoir area (acres)	80
Gas specific gravity	0.65
Reservoir temperature (oF)	150
High original gas-in-place (MMscf)	8,566
High recovery factor (%)	85
High recovery (MMscf)	7,281

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Low original gas-in-place (MMscf)	4,439
Low recovery factor (%)	50
Low recovery (MMscf)	2,220

A summary of the prospective resource analysis results is shown below:

Table 19: Summary of Emerald Forest prospective resource (per 80 acres)

Wind River Working Interest	High Estimate Gas in Place/80 acres (MMscf)	Low Estimate Gas in Place/80 acres (MMscf)	High Estimate Recoverable Gas/80 acres (MMscf)	Low Estimate Recoverable Gas/80 acres (MMscf)
Total	8,566	4,438	7,281	2,220
Wind River Gross	8,566	4,438	7,281	2,220
Wind River Net	7,495	3,883	6,371	1,943

Wind River management believes this project would most likely be developed on 640 acre spacing. The above analysis would indicate that the gross gas in place on 640 acres would be 68,528 MMscf.

Definition of Undiscovered Resources as per COGE Handbook:

Undiscovered petroleum Initially-In-Place (equivalent to undiscovered resources) is the quantity of petroleum that is estimated, on a given date, to be contained in accumulations yet to be discovered.

Definition of Prospective Resource as per COGE Handbook:

Prospective Resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development projects. Prospective resources have both an associated chance of discovery and a chance of development. Prospective Resources are further subdivided in accordance with the level of certainty associated with recoverable estimates assuming their discovery and development and may be subclassified based on project maturity.

Caution Respecting Reserves and Other Oil and Gas Information

The determination of oil and gas reserves or resources involves the preparation of estimates that have an inherent degree of associated uncertainty. Categories of proved and probable reserves and different categories of resources have been established to reflect the level of these uncertainties and to provide an indication of the probability of recovery. The estimation and classification of reserves and resources requires the application of professional judgment combined with geological and engineering knowledge to assess whether or not specific reserves or resources classification criteria have been satisfied. Knowledge of concepts including uncertainty and risk, probability and statistics, and deterministic and probabilistic estimation methods is required to properly use and apply reserves and resources definitions.
All estimates provided in the 51-101 Report and this release have been made assuming that development of each property in respect of which the estimate is made will occur, without regard to the likely availability to the Company of the funding required for that development.

The reserves and resource estimates provided in the 51-101 Report are estimates only. Actual reserves and resources may be greater than or less than the estimates provided. In addition, there

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is no certainly that it will be commercially viable to produce any proportion of the estimated resources. The estimated values of future net revenue set out in the 51-101 Report do not represent fair market value. 9.0 Appendix 2: Abbreviations

ac acre
AOF absolute open flow
API American Petroleum Institute bbl barrel
bopd barrels of oil per day BTU British Thermal Unit BCF billion cubic feet
cp centipose
°F degrees, Fahrenheit
°R degrees, Rankin ft feet
GOR gas oil ratio
KB Kelly bushing
Mbbl thousands of barrels
MMbbl millions of barrels
M$ thousand dollars (U.S.) Mcf thousand cubic feet
Mscf thousand standard cubic feet
MMscf million standard cubic feet
Mscfpd million standard cubic feet per day md milli-darcy
% Percentage
PVT pressure-volume-temperature
Psi pounds per square inch
Psia pounds per square inch absolute psig pounds per square inch gauge POR porosity
rb reservoir barrel
stbo stock tank barrel of oil
Mstbo thousand stock tank barrel of oil
Scf standard cubic feet
STOOIP stock tank original oil-in-place
Sw water saturation TVD true vertical depth Yr Year
WI working interest

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About Wind River Energy Corp.:

Wind River is an oil and natural gas acquisition, exploration and development company with a focus on domestic energy projects within the United States. Wind River has oil & gas leases on three properties located in the Wind River Basin of Wyoming in addition to its four other project areas in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana.
For further information, please visit Wind River's website athttp://www.windriverenergy.com/ or contact: Paul Cox, Director
Wind River Energy Corp.
1010-609 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V7Y 1G5
T: [phone]
F: [phone]
E: [e-mail]

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.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements relating to "reserves" or "resources" are deemed to be forward looking statements, as they involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, that the resources and reserves described can be profitably produced in the future.
Although Wind River believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Wind River can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward- looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including various risk factors discussed in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the Period Ended September 30, 2010 as amended, filed on February 7, 2011 under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.
THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION ON AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME.

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