LONDON (Alliance News) - Nighthawk Energy PLC shares fell in early trading Friday after the company said its average gross oil production dropped in August against July at it was hit by built up tests and maintenance work at Arikaree Creek in Colorado.
Shares in the company were down 5.3% to 9 pence in early trade, enough to make it one of the worst performers on the AIM All-Share.
Nighthawk said average gross oil production from all wells in August was 1,694 barrels per day, down from the 2,007 barrels per day reported in July. The company said the fall was down to pre-planned pressure build up tests and routine maintenance work undertaken at the Arikaree Creek site.
It said further build up tests and maintenance work have been carried out in September, with additional work planned before the end of this month. The Big Sky 4-11 and Snow King 13-33 wells have been affected by the work.
The company said the Blackcomb 5-14 well at Arikaree Creek started production on September 1 and said the Blackcomb 5-14 well is set to be brought into production in October.
It said drilling at Blackcomb 5-14 found the oil pay zone was substantially thicker than the equivalent zone at the Blackcomb 12-14 well, with initial testing showing good commercial oil flow rates with no water content.
Nighthawk said the success at the two wells has opened up new drilling locations at Arikaree Creek and said the drilling rig is due to move to one of the new sights following the completion of drilling and logging at the Salen 14-35 well.
"The initial flow results from the two Blackcomb wells have been better than anticipated and together with the logging data gathered we now see better than expected production potential in the southern acreage of Arikaree Creek," said Nighthawk Chairman Stephen Gutteridge.
"With good potential for incremental production at both Arikaree Creek and Snow King, plus the possibilities of the planned horizontal well, the outlook looks promising," Gutteridge said.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.