Nighthawk Energy Regulatory News (HAWK)

16 May 2007 07:01

Nighthawk Energy plc16 May 2007 Nighthawk Energy plc Vogel Bartlesville Project Drilling Update and Land Acquisition The directors of Nighthawk Energy plc ("Nighthawk" or "the Company") (AIM: HAWK)are pleased to announce details of a fourth successful appraisal well, Vogel15-36D and the acquisition of further acreage in respect of the VogelBartlesville waterflood project . The Company holds an 80 per cent. interest inthe project and the operator, Running Foxes Petroleum Inc. ("Running Foxes"), a20 per cent. interest. The Vogel Bartlesville project is located in Bourbon County, Kansas, within theCherokee Basin, a prolific shallow oil and gas producing area from CarboniferousPennsylvanian, Mississippian and Ordovician reservoirs. An appraisal and development programme, which was planned to comprise twelveproduction wells and two injection wells on ten acre spacing, has now beenextended following this further drilling success on the currently held leasescovering approximately 480 acres. Further to the announcement on 2 May 2007 in respect of appraisal drillingsuccess on wells Vogel 9-36B, 9-36C and 16-36B, all targeting the PennsylvanianBartlesville channel sandstones located at 350-450 feet, a new well Vogel 15-36Dhas recently been drilled on the southern boundary of the current lease area.This well has been successfully completed and been logged and cased as a futureproducer. The well confirmed the presence of oil saturated sandstones and thenet oil pay has been determined at in excess of 15 feet. Oil was recovered fromthe drill core. The result of Vogel 15-36D indicates that the reservoir extends into theadjacent southern area outside Nighthawk's current lease area. One well on thisacreage, the Gross 8-1, a coal bed methane well, has indications of over 25 feetof reservoir rock from cased hole logs and is structurally higher than the Vogelwells. The well had no open hole mechanical logs or a mudlog run on it by thepresent operator. , Agreement has been reached with the present owner of thisacreage, a subsidiary of Canadian-quoted Admiral Bay Resources Inc., to acquirethe undivided oil and gas leasehold interests and working interests thatencompass the Bartlesville sandstone formation over an additional area of 480acres in Section 1 Township 25S Range 23E for a purchase price of US$450,000. Together with the original project area of 160 acres and the acquisition of 320acres which was announced on 2 May 2007, the new acquisition brings the totalVogel project acreage to approximately 960 acres. Running Foxes estimated thatthe oil in place in the original project lease area of 160 acres was 3.1 millionbarrels. David Bramhill, Managing Director of Nighthawk commented "Results from the Vogelproject continue to be very encouraging. The acquisition of further acreagesignificantly enhances the potential size of the project. In addition, and ofgreat importance, the working relationship between Nighthawk and Running Foxesis developing and we are looking forward to co-operating on further projects inthe future." David Racher B.Sc (Hons) Geology, who is a consultant to Nighthawk, has reviewedand approved the technical information contained in this announcement. For information in respect of the waterflood process please visitwww.nighthawkenergy.net where an animation of the process can be viewed on theVogel Bartlesville page. For further information please contact: Nighthawk Energy plc 01271 882160David Bramhill, Managing Director office@nighthawkenergy.netwww.nighthawkenergy.net Hanson Westhouse Limited 0113 246 2610Tim Feather tim.feather@hansonwesthouse.com Matthew Johnson matthew.johnson@hansonwesthouse.com Bishopsgate Communications Limited 020 7562 3350Dominic Barretto dominic@bishopsgatecommunications.comFran Read fran@bishopsgatecommunications.com Notes for Editors Nighthawk is a hydrocarbon production and development company focused onbuilding a portfolio of assets in the US. Nighthawk floated on AIM in March2007 having raised a total of £10 million. Nighthawk also holds a 37.5 per cent. working interest in the producing CiscoSprings oil and gas project in Grand County,Utah. Running Foxes, a privatelyowned Denver-based company, is the operator and majority owner of the project. At the time of Nighthawk's admission to AIM, Oilfield Production ConsultantsLimited ("OPC"), estimated the following reserves, net to Nighthawk, in theCisco Springs project: P90 P50 P10 Gas (BCF) 74.9 94.2 116.2Oil (MMBBLS) 0.3 0.6 1.1 OPC estimated the NPV10 of Nighthawk's interest in Cisco Springs to be US$192.3million (approximately £98.6 million). The Cisco Springs project area presently covers approximately 17,000 acres.There are currently 18 production wells at Cisco Springs, primarily supplyingnatural gas to the Californian market with ancillary oil production soldlocally. A major drilling and development programme is in progress with 390well sites identified on the current acreage. Approximately 60 new wells areplanned in the next two years. In addition, Nighthawk holds an 80 per cent. interest in the Vogel Bartlesvillewaterflood project in Kansas. The initial project area of 160 acres, which theoperator, Running Foxes, estimated to contain oil in place of 3.1 millionbarrels, has grown to approximately 960 acres. A programme of production andinjection wells is in progress to determine the reservoir characteristics inpreparation for flooding the reservoir and production. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange