Nighthawk Energy Regulatory News (HAWK)

2 May 2007 07:01

Nighthawk Energy plc02 May 2007 Nighthawk Energy plc Vogel Bartlesville Waterflood Project Update The directors of Nighthawk Energy plc ("Nighthawk" or "the Company") (AIM: HAWK)are pleased to announce a drilling and operations update from 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 at less than 4,000 feet. A development and appraisal drilling programme, which is currently planned tocomprise twelve production wells and two injection wells, is presently underwayon ten acre spacing. The first three new wells in the current appraisal drilling programme, Vogel9-36B, 9-36C and 16-36B targeting Bartlesville channel sandstones located at 350to 450 feet have been successfully completed and have been logged and cased asfuture producers. All three wells have confirmed the presence of oil saturatedsandstones and have been cored for ongoing reservoir studies. The net pay zonesfrom each well are 13 feet, 12 feet and 17 feet respectively. The wells allmade free oil into the drill pits while coring, some of which has been collectedfor laboratory analysis. In the area drilled, no water zone has been defined todate. Through log analysis of the two original wells drilled on the project, Vogel10-36 and Vogel 16-36, Running Foxes estimated the oil in place to be 3,096,256barrels over 160 acres. From the current data, indications are that thereservoir extends into adjacent land outside of the original lease area. Anadditional 320 acres has now been acquired bringing the total acreage held to480 acres. Running Foxes is in discussions with landowners to increase thecurrent land position further. At least a further nine appraisal wells are planned to determine the full extentof the field. The injection of the water to build reservoir pressure isexpected to occur over a three month period prior to commencement of production.Pump jacks, in-field flow lines, oil/water separation and storage tanks havebeen purchased in anticipation of early development and production. David Bramhill, Managing Director of Nighthawk commented "Initial results fromthe Vogel project are encouraging and the board of Nighthawk is delighted withprogress to date. The possibility of an extension in the size of the field isalso excellent news. With this in mind, engineering studies are now beingundertaken to determine the optimum development plan for the project." David Racher B.Sc (Hons) Geology, who is a consultant to Nighthawk, has reviewedand approved the technical information contained in this announcement. 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.comMatthew 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 holds a 37.5 per cent. working interest in the producing Cisco Springsoil and gas project in Grand County,Utah. Running Foxes, a privately ownedDenver-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. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange