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TSX: OPC

CALGARY, June 23 /CNW/ - OPTI Canada Inc. ("OPTI" or the "Company") announced today that it has filed a preliminary short form prospectus (the "Prospectus") in Canada in connection with a marketed public offering (the "Offering") of common shares of OPTI (the "Common Shares"). The Company intends to conduct the Offering through a syndicate of underwriters led by TD Securities Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc., and RBC Capital Markets as joint bookrunners.

The Offering will be priced in the context of the market with the final terms of the Offering to be determined at the time of pricing. The Common Shares will be offered in all of the provinces of Canada and on a private placement basis in the United States pursuant to exemptions from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the "1933 Act") and other such jurisdictions as may be agreed to by the Company and the Underwriters. The Offering is scheduled to close on or about July 9, 2009 and is subject to certain customary conditions and regulatory approvals, including but not limited to the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

OPTI intends to use a portion of the net proceeds from the Offering to fund its remaining $50 million of forecast capital expenditures for 2009. The remainder of the proceeds are expected to be used to fund working capital requirements and a portion may be used to reduce indebtedness under OPTI's $350 million revolving credit facility ("Revolving Credit Facility"). Under the terms of OPTI's Revolving Credit Facility, OPTI may repay amounts owing and, subject to satisfying a number of conditions precedent prior to each borrowing, make new borrowings.

Financial Update

On June 22, 2009, OPTI had financial resources of approximately $360 million consisting of $332 million of cash and $28 million of undrawn funds under the Revolving Credit Facility. Prior to December 31, 2009, OPTI is forecasting approximately $50 million for remaining 2009 capital expenditures, $80 million for the remaining interest payments on its senior secured notes and approximately $40 million for working capital requirements. OPTI expects its financial resources at December 31, 2009 will be approximately $190 million, prior to the impact of net operating cash flow from the Long Lake Project and the net proceeds from this Offering. Based on our current production, operations and commodity price assumptions, OPTI expects that the net proceeds of this offering, together with existing financial resources, will provide sufficient financial resources until full production is reached for the Long Lake Project of 72,000 bbl/d of bitumen by the end of 2010.

OPTI's Revolving Credit Facility debt to EBITDA covenant, which is measured quarterly, commences at the end of the third quarter of 2009. OPTI intends to repay the Revolving Credit Facility (whether temporarily or permanently) to the extent required to satisfy this covenant. With the net proceeds from this offering, assuming production reaches full capacity by the end of 2010, and using the current forward strip pricing for WTI pricing and foreign exchange rates, OPTI expects to be able to meet the covenant as it is currently structured until the maturity of the Revolving Credit Facility. However, to provide greater certainty of meeting this covenant, OPTI plans to seek an amendment to the covenant. OPTI has already commenced discussions with certain key lenders including the administrative agent under its Revolving Credit Facility, and upon completion of this offering, OPTI plans to broaden these discussions to include the other members of OPTI's banking syndicate with the objective of reaching an agreement to defer and amend this covenant prior to it becoming operative.

Project Update

Progress continues to be made in the start-up phase of the Long Lake Project. The Long Lake reservoir is performing as OPTI expected, given the amount of steam that has been injected into the reservoir. Steam injection has been limited to date by the ability to treat water during the ramp-up period. Nexen Inc. (the "Operator") successfully completed a project to add supplementary heat to the hot lime softeners ("HLSs") in the water treatment plant in May 2009.