Highlands Natural Resources reports completion of hydraulic fracturing at East Denver
HOUSTON -- Highlands Natural Resources, the London-listed natural resources company, is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed hydraulic fracturing operations, and is now preparing both the Wildhorse and Powell wells for flowback and production of oil and gas at its East Denver Niobrara Project in Colorado.
Highlights
- Wildhorse and Powell wells hydraulically fractured 55 times each for a total of 110 intervals with flowback operations targeted for the end of October 2017
- Expected commencement of production during fourth-quarter 2017
- Drilling and completions process completed safely and in accordance with state, local and national regulations
- Total time for hydraulic fracturing operations was 17 days, which was within the Company's original timeline
Highlands' Chairman and CEO Robert Price said, "The commencement of production at East Denver is a moment that the Highlands team and our dedicated investors have long-awaited. In concert with our financial and technical partners, Highlands has advanced East Denver from a greenfield project to the successful completion of two wells. Looking ahead, we are excited about the potential to drill up to 22 additional wells at East Denver, and we eagerly await the results of Wildhorse and Powell. Highlands will update the market with production results as soon as they become available."
Flowback process
Highlands began operations to drill out the plugs between each fracture stage on Oct. 15, 2017, a process which takes approximately 5-7 days per well. Once the plugs are drilled out, Highlands will commence the flow-back process which is targeted for the end of October 2017. It is typical for hydraulically fractured wells to initially produce fracture fluid, then as the fracture fluid is emptied from the wellbore over a period of days or weeks, oil and gas begin to "cut in" until the production stream achieves a steady state of oil, gas and water production that is indicative of long-term performance.
At the point when the ratio of oil, gas and water stabilizes, the Company will measure daily production rates and announce the initial production (IP) of the wells.
