VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Dec. 19, 2013) - CBM Asia Development Corp. ("CBM Asia" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:TCF)(US:CBMDF)(FRANKFURT:IY2) provides an update of its coalbed methane (CBM) exploration activities in Indonesia.

On December 12 CBM Asia signed a USD30 million Loan with Warrant MoU funding package with a prominent European family office which included a USD15 million letter of credit facility required by ExxonMobil under the Barito Basin farm-in Umbrella Agreement. The MoU was presented to ExxonMobil on December 13. However, CBM Asia was advised by ExxonMobil on December 16 that it planned to exit the Indonesian CBM industry.

CBM Asia is reviewing a draft termination agreement offered by ExxonMobil. The Company has requested compensation for the extensive planning and technical support the Company has provided to ExxonMobil to help it fulfill its PSC obligations during the past 18 months.

Separately, today the Company signed a Letter of Intent with an Indonesian oil and gas company to negotiate a JV/farm-in deal on four coalbed methane PSC's in South Kalimantan. The Company continues to work with the European family office to arrange a funding package to support any agreement entered into.

CBM Asia retains various interests in five other awarded PSC's in Indonesia which were not covered by the Umbrella Agreement with ExxonMobil. These include the Sekayu and Kutai West PSCs where the Company holds an estimated 981 Bcf of unrisked recoverable prospective resources net to the Company based on the results of eight CBM test wells.¹ Production testing recently commenced at the KW-003 well at Kutai West; the Company plans to disclose results when they become available.

The Company also provides further details of the arbitration award decided against it related to the Kutai 2 PSC application. The Arbitral Tribunal in Singapore has ordered the Company to pay legal and arbitration expenses totaling approximately USD1.39 million to respondent PT Ephindo.

¹ NI 51-101 compliant

ABOUT CBM ASIA DEVELOPMENT CORP.

CBM Asia Development Corp. is a Canadian-based unconventional gas company with significant coalbed methane ("CBM") exploration and development opportunities in Indonesia. The Company holds various participating interests in five production sharing contracts (each a "PSC") for CBM in Indonesia. Indonesia has one of the largest CBM resources in the world with a potential 453 trillion feet³ in-place, more than double the country's natural gas reserves (Stevens and Hadiyanto, 2004). Since 2008 a total of 54 CBM PSCs have been granted by the Government of Indonesia, representing exploration commitments of well over US$100 million during the next 3 years. In addition to CBM Asia, other companies active in CBM exploration in Indonesia include BP, Dart Energy, ENI, ExxonMobil, Medco, Santos, and TOTAL. BP, ENI, and the Indonesian government have confirmed that commercial CBM production started in March 2011 from the Sanga-Sanga PSC and is being exported from the Bontang LNG facility. The Company trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "TCF". www.cbmasia.ca

ON BEHALF OF CBM ASIA DEVELOPMENT CORP.

Alan T. Charuk, President & CEO

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.

This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. The economics of exploring, developing and operating resource properties are affected by many factors including, but not limited to, the cost of exploration and development operations, conclusions of economic evaluations, unexpected formations or pressures, premature declines in reserves, potential environmental damage, blow‐outs, fires, variations in the amount and saturation of CBM contained in individual coal seams and the rate of production therefrom, fluctuations in gas prices and the availability of capital. There are no assurances that the Company's work programs will result in the discovery of commercially viable or economically producible properties or that the Company will be successful in completing the Offering in whole or in part. Gas in place estimates referred to in this news release are not NI 51-101 compliant and do not represent "discovered petroleum initially-in-place" within the meaning of the Canadian Oil & Gas Evaluation Handbook (COGE Handbook). The term "discovered petroleum initially-in-place" is equivalent to discovered resources, and is defined in the COGE Handbook to mean that quantity of petroleum that is estimated, as of a given date, to be contained in known accumulations prior to production. There are no assurances that any portion of the estimated gas in place resources referred to herein will be discovered. Furthermore, such estimates make no allowance for the recovery of the gas which will depend on, among other things, the reservoir characteristics encountered and future economic conditions. All of the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our Canadian continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com including our December 31, 2012 year end annual MD&A dated April 24, 2013 and June 30, 2013 interim MD&A dated August 20, 2013. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation.

THIS NEWS RELEASE, REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE CANADIAN LAWS, IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES, AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL SECURITIES AND THE COMPANY IS NOT SOLICITING AN OFFER TO BUY THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN. THESE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS, AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS UNLESS REGISTERED OR EXEMPT THEREFROM.