Exploration & Production | Top Story

Strata-X Breaks Ground on Niobrara Sleeping Giant Project

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Strata-X Energy Ltd. has started operations on the vertical Rohweder #1-11 well located in Emmons County, North Dakota, USA.

Final location work is currently being completed with the rig mobilization anticipated to begin on or around June 20, 2014. The Rohweder #1-11 well is the Company's first appraisal well in the Sleeping Giant Gas Project. Strata-X is the operator of the well and retains a 100% working interest in it. Overall, the Company has acquired exploration rights to 120,000 mostly contiguous net acres in the Sleeping Giant Gas Project.

Highlights:

• Drilling operations on the Rohweder #1-11 well anticipated to start within a week.
• First test of Company's 120,000 net acre shallow gas project.
• Release of the Sleeping Giant Primer Presentation

The Sleeping Giant Gas Project is targeting biogenic natural gas from the prolific Upper Cretaceous Niobrara formation in the Williston Basin, North Dakota. The Niobrara Formation is a significant petroleum system in the USA and has produced over 1 TCF of natural gas from shallow accumulations including the project's geologic analogue, the Beecher Island field in the Denver-Julesburg Basin (Colorado, USA). To date, Beecher Island field has produced over 101 Bcf⁽¹⁾ of natural gas and is expected to ultimately produce 157 Bcf⁽²⁾ within an area spanning approximately 32 square miles. A field analysis done by Walt King⁽²⁾ shows that reserves per well average 650,000 Mcf⁽²⁾ on 160 acre spacing in the Beecher Island Gas Field. It is expected that the Sleeping Giant Gas Project could yield similar economic resources per well due to similar geologic conditions.

There has been relatively little drilling in the Sleeping Giant Gas Project area to date, with most wells targeting the deeper Cretaceous and Paleozoic targets. Sub-commercial natural gas has been produced outside the mapped closure on the large structures in the project area, with the crestal regions of the structures remaining untested within the targeted zone. The Rohweder 1-11 well will test the Beaver Creek Prospect structure, which is just one of the 26 prospects and leads that have been identified in the Sleeping Giant Gas Project.

The Company anticipates that drilling and casing operations on the Rohweder #1-11 well will be completed by early next week. Thereafter, information obtained during the drilling of the well will be used to design and optimize a completion stimulation of the well. The drilling permit for the Rohweder #1-11 well is one of four permits granted to Strata-X by the North Dakota Industrial Commission. The other drilling permits held by Strata-X on the Sleeping Giant Gas Project are the Aberle #1-31 and Just #1-24 wells located in McIntosh County and the Hoff #1-32 well located in Emmons County, North Dakota.