Breitling Energy announces new 14-well development program

DALLAS -- Breitling Energy Corp. has announced a new non-operated 35% participation in a 14-well developmental drilling program in West Texas, with the first spudding Wednesday.

Phase One has seven wells planned; six in Kent County and one in Knox County. The total acreage is approximately 8,500 non-contiguous acres between the two counties, leased throughout the past two years.

The prospects, which target oil with associated gas, are located on the eastern shelf in the upper Permian basin, in a proven area with a long history of successful production. The major payzones between the 14 wells could include the Ellenburger, Mississippian, Bend Conglomerate, Strawn Sand, Frye Sand, and the Tannehill formations. Subsurface mapping, seismic and geochemical analysis were used to pinpoint the drilling locations.

The first well, Barker Trust #1, will be drilled vertically to approximately 5,000 ft in Kent County over a two-week period, with the Tannehill sand as the primary oil objective. The other six wells of Phase One should be drilled consecutively, with three to five days in-between to move the rig.

Drilling will employ approximately a dozen total rig workers throughout the duration of the first seven wells, in addition to completion crews for logging and cementing. Phase Two, consisting of seven additional wells, will be initiated after the completion of Phase One.

The acreage offers the ability to offset successful wells with two or three additional locations. There could be as many as 35 or 40 total wells across the acreage, should the initial phases be successful as expected.

"We are excited to partner in this new development, extending our growth through the drill bit as we outlined in our business plan," said Chris Faulkner, Breitling Energy's chairman and CEO. "The subsurface work appears favorable for this area and we have the ability to grow and expand here. The diversification of fourteen wells between two phases gives us a wide growth margin. If we offset even half of them, that still is a substantial asset for the company. These are vertical wells ranging from about 2,000 to 5,000 ft depending on the area, which offers us even greater leverage in today's price environment," Faulkner added.