LONDON (Alliance News) - Nighthawk Energy PLC on Friday said it has received mixed results from drilling at its Colorado fields, with minimal oil shows in certain parts of the prospect but unexpected finds in others.
Nighthawk started a five-well drilling programme at Arikaree Creek in September and the results for the Crested Butte 2-14 well showed the Spergen formation at the site contained mainly water, though some oil shows were seen in a couple of zones. Nighthawk has complete the well and based on the test production, expects the well will deliver around 100 barrels of oil per day once a pumping unit and other production facilities are installed.
Drilling on the Monarch portion of the prospect also showed now oil, though the Spergen formation in the Monarch 10-15 well indicated oil had been present at one time. This suggests the oil either migrated up hole to higher zones or off the structure to the east.
During drilling, however, the company encountered oil in the lower Atoka zone at the site, a zone it has never produced any oil from, as well as shows in the upper Marmaton and Cherokee zones. Nighthawk has plans to go up hole and test the zones and will make a further announcement about this in due course.
"The potential significance of the discovery of the Atoka zone is both the quality of the oil that we have found there and the fact that the zone is gas charged, potentially increasing production levels," Nighthawk said.
"While our initial drilling results are still being fully evaluated, they are disappointing in that additional Spergen reserves were not found. The discovery of additional St Louis and the newly discovered Atoka reserves are encouraging and indicative of just how many oil-producing zones there are in this part of Colorado," said Rick McCullough, Nighthawk's chairman.
"Operators have previously drilled for this Atoka zone with little success. It is too early to determine how productive it may be, but additional testing is planned to try and determine these zones potential," he added.
Nighthawk shares were untraded early Friday, having last traded at 3.30 pence.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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