Abraxas Buys Drilling Rig

- Abraxas Buys Drilling Rig

Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Abraxas Petroleum Corp.

Abraxas has purchased a drilling rig and hired an experienced rig operator.

Abraxas purchased a used Oilwell 2000 hp diesel electric drilling rig, which will be refurbished and mobilized to the Williston Basin to drill Bakken/Three Forks wells using a multi-well pad drilling system. Abraxas anticipates that the rig will be ready to spud its first well in October 2011 in the North Fork area of McKenzie County, North Dakota where the Company has 60 gross (18 net) identified drilling locations.

The rig will be owned and operated by Raven Drilling, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abraxas. Abraxas has hired an experienced rig operator, Tom Coons, who will run the day-to-day operations of the rig and its crew. Mr. Coons has worked for Abraxas as a drilling consultant in the Rocky Mountain region since 1997 and he has drilled numerous wells in various basins throughout his 40 year career in the business.

"Due to the severe shortage of equipment and services in the Williston Basin, we felt it was prudent to secure our own drilling rig in order to get our operated wells drilled on a timely and cost-efficient basis. The multi-well pad drilling system should save a lot of capital costs as the rig walks from location to location which reduces the mobilization costs, in addition to other cost savings by using the same mud system for multiple wells. On the completion side, we are still in the process of negotiating long-term availability of services; nonetheless, we are beginning to see additional availability in the basin, both of which will be of benefit to us once we get our operated wells drilled and ready for fracture stimulation," commented Bob Watson, Abraxas’ President and CEO.

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Heritage to Commence Multi-Well Exploration Program at Miran Block

Heritage to Commence Multi-Well Exploration Program at Miran Block

Monday, April 18, 2011
Heritage Oil plc

Heritage Oil provided an update on the work program and development options for the Miran Block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ("Kurdistan").

Highlights

• Rig secured to commence a multi-well exploration and appraisal drilling campaign on the Miran Block
• Miran West-3 well scheduled to spud in July and is estimated to take 160 days to drill and test
• It is planned to undertake a comprehensive testing program
• 3D seismic program progressing with the first batch of data being analyzed
• 2D seismic program to commence in the summer to define other potential prospects on the Block
• Discussions with the Kurdistan Regional Government (the "KRG") continue regarding fast-track development of the gas

Drilling Program

Heritage has signed a rig contract with DaQing International to supply the DQ037 2000HP rig to commence a multi-well exploration and appraisal drilling campaign on the Miran Block. The first well in this continuous drilling campaign will be the Miran West-3 well, which is an approximate 4 kilometer step out appraisal of the major Jurassic gas discovery made by the Miran West-2 well.

The Miran West-3 well, which is scheduled to spud in July, will take an estimated 160 days to drill and test and is targeting the flanks of the Jurassic structure, with the benefit of the current 3D seismic survey. The well will appraise the Upper and Lower Cretaceous reservoirs whilst drilling to its primary Jurassic objective, with an estimated total depth of approximately 3,800 meters. The well bore will be angled to increase the frequency of fracture penetration and orientated in the optimal direction for the interception of open fractures. It is planned to undertake a comprehensive testing program targeting numerous potential reservoir horizons.

On completion of this well the rig will move to drill the Miran West-4 appraisal well. A second rig is being sourced to drill the Miran East-1 exploration well in the fourth quarter of this year, at which point Heritage will have two rigs operating in country.

Seismic Acquisition

Heritage is currently acquiring 730 square kilometers of 3D seismic across the Miran Block to help define further appraisal drilling locations and fully exploit fracture networks. This is believed to be the largest ever 3D seismic program undertaken to date, in Kurdistan. The data will be analyzed in separate tranches to expedite understanding of the structures and the first batch of 3D seismic data, covering 180 square kilometers, is currently being processed.

In addition, 180 kilometers of new 2D seismic data will be acquired within the Block in the summer of 2011 to define other potential prospects.

Gas Monetization

Discussions with the KRG over the fast-tracked phased development of the Miran Field have continued. The KRG has outlined their favored development options for gas utilization and the initial priority will be to satisfy local gas demand by supplying produced gas on commercial terms to local power stations and other end-users in the Sulymaniyah region in 2013. Early production of the gas will also result in early associated condensate and oil production. This will then be followed by the export of gas to Turkey/Europe and full production of the oil and condensate zones enabling full development of the field.

Tony Buckingham, CEO, commented, "The signing of the multi-well rig contact and expansion of the seismic programs demonstrates our commitment to exploring and developing the Miran Field. The initial discussions with the KRG have been very constructive and could lead to the fast-tracked development of the field, which has the potential to benefit our shareholders significantly, and contribute to the further development of the region as well as generate revenue to be shared by all peoples of Iraq."

Edge Boosts Production, Drills 3 Wells

Edge Boosts Production, Drills 3 Wells

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Edge Resources Inc.

Edge has completed the first three wells of a multi-well drilling program. Additionally, the Company has increased production by fracturing and tying two wells into its 100% owned and operated, dedicated shallow-gas infrastructure.

The drilling rig, on contract from Ensign Energy Services, moved to the Company's location directly from northern Alberta on March 14, 2011. The rig drilled the first of at least eight licensed locations, with several others soon to be licensed and drilled. The rig was released because of "spring breakup", a period during which the winter frost comes out of the ground and the various counties restrict the movement of large equipment over the roads.

Brad Nichol, President and CEO of Edge commented, "I'm pleased with the operational team's ability to have squeezed this rig into our drilling plan prior to break-up versus waiting until break-up is over and competing with many other companies for the rigs. I am equally impressed with how quickly my team reacted to the availability of fracturing equipment.

On notice that the equipment was coming available, we immediately moved to put that equipment to work on our wells, and already have two of those wells producing into our own pipeline."

The Company commenced fracturing operations on several wells, after waiting since December 2010 for equipment to come available. The Company has successfully fractured two wells, both of which were immediately tied-into 100% owned and operated, existing shallow-gas infrastructure. Other wells will be fractured as part of this program but will not be tied-into pipeline until after spring breakup.

These two wells are flowing over 1,000 mcf/day (167 boe/day) on initial production, which adds significantly to the Company's total production mix. The Company is now generating significant revenue and positive cash flow on a monthly basis.

The Company has very low operating and F&D costs, and expects to be profitable at a natural gas price of less than $2.00/mcf.

Edge has now earned or acquired a total of 23 sections of Edmonton Sands natural gas property, each containing one drilled Edmonton Sands well. The Company has executed agreements that allow for up to another 27 sections of prospective Edmonton Sands land to be earned by drilling 1 well on each respective section.