CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Dec. 5, 2011) -Touchstone Exploration Inc., (TSX VENTURE:TAB) ("Touchstone" or "the Company") announces that on November 25^th Touchstone commenced its 2011-2012 capital drilling program with the spudding of Replacement-FR 1710 on the WD-8 block in Trinidad. The drilling program will consist of approximately 23 wells being drilled, the first four of which will be vertical development wells principally targeting oil in the Cruse formation at depths up to 4000 ft. These first four wells are anticipated to be finished drilling operations by the end of January, 2012, and will be brought on production on an on-going basis as results and completion approvals are obtained. It is anticipated that all four wells drilled in this phase will be on production by the end of the first quarter of 2012. Pending approval, the second phase of the drilling program will be a pilot program of four horizontal wells being drilled on WD-8 block. These wells will target the Forest formation which has oil-bearing sands between 850 and 1200 feet. Successful completion and performance of this program will provide a significant number of additional horizontal well locations on a number of the blocks operated by Touchstone. The third phase of the 2011-2012 drilling program will be drilling 17 vertical wells targeting the Cruse and Forest formations with a near-term focus of drilling on the WD-8, Coora, Fyzabad, San Francique and Sunty blocks. Touchstone has now identified 111 drilling locations on the lands currently subject to operation or exploration rights held by Touchstone.

Following the completion of the acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Primera Oil & Gas Ltd., Primera Oilfield Management Services Ltd. and Primera East Brighton Ltd. on August the 19^th 2011, Touchstone undertook an evaluation of the existing well bores on the nine producing blocks it operates and has identified 229 potential zones for recompletion operations. In the past three months Touchstone has performed eight recompletions with the focus being by-passed pay within wells located in its Coora blocks. Of the eight recompletions executed, five were completed within the Coora block, two within the Fyzabad block and one within the WD-8 block. Results to date from this initial recompletion program include six producing oil wells, one solution gas zone and one well presently shut-in for re-evaluation. Total production on November 27^th from the six successful recompletions was 161 bbls/d. The two most significant recompletions were at QU-428 which averaged 90 bbls/d and CO-253 which averaged 20 bbls/d. Both of these wells have seen intermittent production due to unconsolidated sand requiring numerous clean outs of the well bores. This is typical as most of the recompletions have been characterized by high initial rates which carry sand into the wellbore. After an initial period of flush production, rates stabilize and sand influx abates, allowing for continuous operation. Results to date from this initial recompletion program have been favorable with stabilized flowing metrics well below the targeted capital efficiency of $5000/bopd. Touchstone plans to continue the recompletion program and is initially targeting three recompletions per month for the 2011-2012 program.

The companies in which Touchstone Exploration Inc. directly and indirectly owns investments or assets are separate entities. In this news release "Touchstone" and "the Touchstone Group" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Touchstone Exploration Inc. and its subsidiaries in general.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this news release that involves Touchstone's expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Touchstone generally uses words such as "outlook", "will", "could", "would", "might", "remains", "to be," "plans," "believes," "may," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "estimate," "future," "plan," "positioned," "potential," "target", "project", "remain", "scheduled", "set to", "subject to", "upcoming", and similar expressions to help identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are based upon information available to Touchstone as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Touchstone and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions in Canada and Trinidad & Tobago; industry conditions including changes in laws and regulations including adoption of new environmental laws and regulations, and changes in how they are interpreted and enforced in Canada and Trinidad & Tobago; competition; actual and threatened litigation, lack of availability of qualified personnel; the results of exploration and development drilling and related activities; the timing and amount of estimated future production; costs of production; obtaining required approvals of regulatory authorities in Canada and Trinidad & Tobago; risks associated with negotiating with foreign governments as well as country risk associated with conducting international activities; volatility in market prices for oil; fluctuations in foreign exchange or interest rates; environmental risks; changes in income tax laws or changes in tax laws and incentive programs relating to the oil industry; ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; the risks that any estimate of potential net oil pay is not based upon an estimate prepared or audited by an independent reserves evaluator; that there is no certainty that any portion of the hydrocarbon resources will be discovered, or if discovered that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion thereof; and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Touchstone. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. For further information regarding specific risks and uncertainties applicable to Touchstone please see Touchstone's disclosure documents which may be viewed through the Internet on the Canadian System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at [ www.sedar.com ]. Touchstone does not undertake any obligation to publicly update forward-looking information except as required by applicable securities law.