PetroHunter Energy Corporation Reports Second Quarter Results and Updates Its North American and Australian OperationsTicker Symbol: U:PHUN
DENVER, May 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PetroHunter Energy Corporation reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and provided the following operational update for its oil and gas projects in Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Australia.
Oil and gas revenues increased significantly for the second fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2007, as 12 wells which began production in the previous quarter produced for the entire second fiscal quarter, with eight additional wells recording initial production during the quarter.
For its second fiscal quarter, PetroHunter sold 495,764 mcf of natural gas and 3,485 barrels of oil, increasing production revenues to $3.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007. This compares to oil and gas revenues of $400,000 during first fiscal quarter. The company reported no revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2006.
The company recorded a net loss of $4.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007, compared to a net loss of $2.4 million for the same period in 2006.
For the six months ended March 31, 2007, the company reported $3.8 million in oil and gas revenues, compared to no revenues for the six months ended March 31, 2006. The company reported a net loss of $9.9 million for the six months ended March 31, 2007, compared to net loss of $4.1 million for the six months ended March 31, 2006.
"Our company is vastly different from where we were a year ago," commented Garry Lavold, president of PetroHunter. "At March 31, 2006, we had been operating as an oil and gas company for approximately ten months, had three employees, and had acquired an interest in two properties, West Rozel and Buckskin Mesa, totaling approximately 12,400 net mineral acres. Since May, 2006, we added 13 employees, moved to new offices in Denver, Colorado, and acquired significant interests in additional properties, bringing our total acreage to more than 7.2 million acres on two continents."
Lavold continued, "We are pleased to report significant progress in our efforts to further develop production from our natural gas projects in the Piceance Basin and our Montana heavy oil properties, and we've moved ahead with preparations to drill our heavy oil prospect in Utah as well as our onshore prospects in the Beetaloo Basin of Australia."
NATURAL GAS PROPERTIES
Piceance II
PetroHunter is drilling its 14th operated well in the Piceance II project area near Parachute, Colorado. Each of the 14 wells has encountered gas shows of greater than 200 feet of net pay, with 12 of the wells containing more than 400 feet of net pay, all in sandstones within the Williams Fork Formation.
The company is in the process of negotiating natural gas marketing agreements with an established mid-stream provider with firm transport on the Rockies Express pipeline (REX). The company plans to complete all 14 of its existing wells, and plans to drill and complete two additional permitted wells to coincide with the construction of a gathering system during the third and fourth calendar quarters of 2007.
Buckskin Mesa
PetroHunter has begun drilling its fourth well in the 20,000 net acre Buckskin Mesa project. The first three wells encountered an average of 590 feet of net sandstone pay, with strong gas shows over at least 3,000 gross feet of section. Casing has been set in each of the wells in anticipation of completion in the third and fourth calendar quarters of 2007, pending gathering and marketing arrangements.
The company has entered into a preliminary scoping agreement with Clear Creek Energy Services (CCES), an established midstream services provider, to design, build, and operate a gas gathering system to transport unprocessed gas from the Company's Buckskin Mesa wells to the Meeker Hub for processing and compression into REX. CCES has initiated a feasibility study to transport as much as 15 mmcfpd of gas via existing small-diameter pipelines to the Greasewood Hub. Marketing negotiations are underway with other companies for future delivery of as much as 100 mmcfpd of production from the Buckskin Mesa area. PetroHunter believes that limited gas sales from the Buckskin Mesa wells could begin in late 2007, pending completion of the transport and marketing efforts described above.
HEAVY OIL PROPERTIES
Fiddler Creek
The Company is reviewing production and technical data from two recompleted wells in the Fiddler Creek properties in Stillwater County, Montana. Preliminary oil composition and production data indicates that both wells are capable of delivering continuous heavy oil flow via use of progressive cavity pump technology.
In January, an additional 3,000 acres of federal leasehold was acquired in the Fiddler Creek area at the Montana federal sale. This additional acreage increases the Company's acreage position in the Fiddler Creek area (which includes several structural features) to more than 23,000 net acres. The Company has completed geological and geophysical maps and has selected three vertical and three horizontal well locations for development later this calendar year.
Great Salt Lake
PetroHunter is preparing permits for six vertical wells which will be located on existing seismic lines. The Company has completed geologic and geophysical analysis, preparation of maps and is in the process of finalizing the necessary access to the lake from Little Valley Harbor.
AUSTRALIA
Beetaloo Basin
Sweetpea Corporation Pty Ltd. ("Sweetpea"), a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroHunter Energy Corporation, has signed a Letter of Intent with Century Resources for a drilling rig for the drilling program in the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory of Australia. The rig is expected to arrive in the basin early in the third calendar quarter. Extensive geologic and geophysical work has identified seven initial well locations. The wells have been staked, and construction of drilling pads and access roads are being scheduled. Based on our 2D seismic data field acquisition program completed in 2006, several additional well locations are currently being developed for the first phase of drilling.
Sweetpea currently holds four exploration permits covering approximately seven million acres within the basin, and has applied for another 1.5 million acres under two additional exploration permits.
Northwest Shelf -- Offshore Western Australia
On February 19, 2007, the Joint Offshore Authority for the Commonwealth of Australia and Western Australia granted an exploration permit to Sweetpea Corporation on the Northwest Shelf of Western Australia (the "NW Shelf Permit"). The permit consists of nearly 20,000 acres located offshore in the Exmouth Sub-Basin in the Carnarvon Basin. The Northwest Shelf has a number of commercial oil and gas fields within geologically-significant proximity to Sweetpea's NW Shelf Permit, as well as existing regional offshore infrastructure.
Sweetpea's NW Shelf Permit is located approximately 60 miles south of Chevron's recently announced discovery in the Triassic Mungaroo Formation by the Clio #1 well. Drilling in 3,000 feet of water to a depth of 15,500 feet, the well encountered 623 feet of net gas sands with multi-darcy permeabilities.
Sweetpea's block is located in about 500 feet of water and expected target depths are projected to be in the range of 10,000 - 15,000 feet. Preliminary analysis suggests that hydrocarbon potential occurs in both conventional oil and gas plays and unconventional gas accumulations, both in Mesozoic reservoirs generated from source rocks that are thermally mature.
About PetroHunter Energy Corporation
PetroHunter Energy Corporation, through the operations of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, PetroHunter Operating Company and Sweetpea Corporation Pty Ltd, is a global oil and gas exploration and production company with primary assets consisting of various oil and gas leases and related interests in oil and natural gas prospects, including approximately 220,000 net mineral acres in Colorado, Utah and Montana, and over seven million net mineral acres in Australia.
PetroHunter Energy Corporation shares trade in the United States on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board .
Contacts:
PetroHunter Energy Corporation
Corporate Address
1875 Lawrence Street, Suite 1400
Denver Colorado 80202 USA
Phone (303) 572-8900, Fax (303) 572-8927
Dr. Thomas Ahlbrandt Chairman and CEO |
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