LONDON (Alliance News) - US shale producer Empyrean Energy PLC Wednesday said production from its flagship SugarLoaf AMI project in Texas in the US fell in the second quarter of 2015, but the amount of reserves at the project has substantially increased.
Empyrean has a 3% working interest in the project, which is operated by a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corp.
The company said net production totalled 108,849 barrels of oil equivalent in the second quarter, which is down from 109,425 barrels in the first quarter of 2015 as average daily production dropped to 1,196 barrels per day from 1,216 barrels.
In July, Empyrean received an independent reserves report for the project from DeGolyer MacNaughton, which resulted in a 65% lift in proven 1P reserves to 5.8 million barrels of oil equivalent and a 94% rise in proven plus probable 2P reserves to 12.6 million barrels.
That updated report also excluded the Upper Eagle Ford formation because the area has " significant upside potential," it said.
"The upside potential of the Upper Eagle Ford is exciting from a potential reserves perspective with early production from a small number of wells performing similarly to Lower Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk wells," said Chief Executive Tom Kelly. "More data will be required to convert the Upper Eagle Ford into reserves, however we are encouraged by the early results.
"This has been a successful quarter which has seen us report a dramatic increase in our reserves at Sugarloaf and deliver consistent production despite some disruptions due to flooding in Texas," he added.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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Empyrean (EME)