Empire Petroleum marks well re-entry in Western Haynesville

Empire Petroleum Corporation, an oil and gas company with current producing assets in New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana, Texas and Louisiana, announced the successful 21,006-ft. re-entry and subsurface evaluation of the Wakefield-Harrison GU B #1 well in the Fort Trinidad field in Madison County, Texas, marking a strategic milestone in its Texas gas development program.

Based on publicly disclosed operator data, Empire is the first microcap energy company to re-enter a wellbore first drilled in 1959 and deepened twice in the decade that followed. The Fort Trinidad field was historically developed to roughly 10,000 ft., and the Wakefield-Harrison GU B #1 opens approximately 11,000 ft. of section below that. Empire also successfully returned a complete open-hole logging suite and sidewall cores at temperatures of up to 434 degrees F. This was all achieved at a cost of approximately $4.4 million.

The Wakefield-Harrison GU B #1 forms the foundation for Empire’s focused development strategy in two primary intervals of the Intermediate Production Zones (“IPZ”) and Deep Productive Zones (“DPZ”) within the Fort Trinidad Field. The strategy progresses from behind-pipe recompletions, to a transformational focus on deepening wells in stacked reservoirs, and ultimately, to deep-gas development across the Lower Travis Peak, Cotton Valley Sand, Bossier and Haynesville intervals.

“The Western Haynesville continues to be proven up around us by operators drilling deeper and spending $30.0 million to $45.0 million per well,” said Phil Mulacek, chairman of the Board of Empire. “I am proud that the company is the first microcap energy company to reach a depth beyond 21,000 ft. with modern logs and sidewall cores at temperatures of 434 degrees F. The successful technical and mechanical achievements set a record upon which we can build.

“As a microcap energy company, our team reached a depth greater than any publicly reported evaluation in this part of the play. We also own the midstream, consisting of 49 miles of pipe, 9.5 million cu. ft. per day of new compression and two takeaway outlets.”

Mike Morrisett, President & CEO, added, “We are proud of the entire Empire team for positioning itself to capitalize on opportunities arising from current global energy market conditions and commodity prices. Our current Texas activity places us in great company as we underreamed the wellbore to more than 21,000 ft. The next two wells will enhance our knowledge, improve the clarity of our 3D seismic data, and help establish the landing point and design parameters for a horizontal lateral from these wellbores. Empire now has the infrastructure to help establish revenue going forward.”