Gasco Energy Hires Hein & Associates LLP as New Auditor Activity

DENVER, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gasco Energy, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GASE - News) filed the following as excerpted from the Company's Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 14, 2004.

During the third quarter of 2004, Gasco's Audit Committee, certain members of Gasco's management and Deloitte & Touche LLP (Deloitte), Gasco's independent registered public accounting firm, engaged in several discussions regarding whether Deloitte would continue to provide audit services to Gasco. These discussions focused partly on increased staffing requirements for Gasco and many of Deloitte's other clients, due in part to additional requirements of Rule 404 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and other rules promulgated under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Deloitte indicated that it had to make a choice in the deployment of its resources. On September 8, 2004, Deloitte resigned as Gasco's independent registered public accounting firm. On September 14, 2004, Gasco's Audit Committee engaged Hein & Associates LLP to serve as Gasco's independent public accountants for the fiscal year 2004. Gasco's Audit Committee has decided to continue to retain Deloitte to advise Gasco with respect to tax matters.

The reports of Deloitte on Gasco's consolidated financial statements for each of the past two years did not contain an adverse opinion or disclaimer of opinion, nor were they qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope or accounting principles, except that in its report dated March 25, 2004, Deloitte included an emphasis paragraph related to the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 143. During Gasco's two most recent fiscal years and the subsequent interim period through September 8, 2004, there were no disagreements with Deloitte on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, which disagreements, if not resolved to Deloitte's satisfaction, would have caused it to make reference to the subject matter of the disagreements in connection with its report on Gasco's consolidated financial statements for such years; and during such period, there were no "reportable events" of the kind listed in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K
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Gasco provided Deloitte with a copy of the foregoing disclosure and requested Deloitte to furnish Gasco with a letter addressed to the Securities and Exchange Commission stating whether it agrees with the statements by Gasco in the foregoing disclosure and, if not, stating the respects in which it does not agree. Deloitte's letter is filed as Exhibit 16.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K.

During Gasco's two most recent fiscal years and through September 13, 2004, the date prior to the engagement of Hein & Associates, neither Gasco nor anyone on its behalf consulted Hein & Associates regarding the application of accounting principles to a specified transaction, either completed or proposed, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on Gasco's consolidated financial statements.

About Gasco Energy
Gasco Energy, Inc. is a Denver-based natural gas and oil exploitation and development company that focuses on natural-gas-rich prospects in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The Company currently is active in the Uinta Basin in Utah and controls acreage in the Greater Green River Basin of Wyoming. To learn more, visit www.gascoenergy.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements set forth in this press release relate to management's future plans, objectives and expectations. Such statements are forward-looking within the meanings of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's future financial position, potential resources, business strategy, budgets, projected costs and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar terminology. Although any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are to the knowledge or in the judgment of the officers and directors of the Company, believed to be reasonable, there can be no assurances that any of these expectations will prove correct or that any of the actions that are planned will be taken. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projection, estimate or forecasted result. Some of the key factors that may cause actual results to vary from those the Company expects include inherent uncertainties in interpreting engineering and reserve or production data; operating hazards; delays or cancellations of drilling operations because of weather and other natural and economic forces; fluctuations in oil and natural gas prices in response to changes in supply; competition from other companies with greater resources; environmental and other government regulations; defects in title to properties; increases in the Company's cost of borrowing or inability or unavailability of capital resources to fund capital expenditures; and other risks described under "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1 of the Company's latest Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.