BEXP up 66% on news:
Brigham Exploration Announces Major Field Discovery
AUSTIN, Texas, Dec 15, 1999 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Brigham Exploration
Company (Nasdaq: BEXP) today announced that it has drilled, tested and
is currently completing a significant Lower Vicksburg well in its 57
square mile Diablo 3-D Seismic Project in Brooks County, Texas.
The Palmer State No. 2 well was spud in October 1999 as an offset to
Brigham's late 1998 Palmer State No. 1 exploratory discovery well,
confirming the discovery of Brigham's Home Run Field.
The Palmer State No. 2 well was drilled to a depth of 12,500 feet and
encountered 210 net feet of pay in four Lower Vicksburg sand intervals.
The lowest identified pay interval (29 net feet) tested naturally at a
flow rate of 3.2 MMcf of natural gas and 250 barrels of condensate with
a flowing tubing pressure of 5,500 pounds per square inch ("psi").
Following fracture stimulation of this lower zone, production rates
have increased to 7.3 MMcf of natural gas and 300 barrels of condensate
with flowing tubing pressure of 6,600 psi. Brigham plans to temporarily
abandon this lower sand to facilitate the testing and fracture
stimulation of the remaining upper three sand intervals (181 net feet).
Upon completion of testing and stimulation, the Company intends to
commingle all four zones at an estimated production rate of 18 MMcf of
natural gas and 700 barrels of condensate per day. Completion
operations are likely to be completed by mid-January 2000.
Brigham's 3-D interpretative mapping indicates that the Home Run Field
reservoirs have over 500 feet of relief and cover approximately 1,100
acres with estimated gross reserves ranging from a minimum of 80 Bcfe
to over 200 Bcfe. Brigham operates the Palmer State No. 2 well and has
retained a 34% working and 27% net revenue interest in the Diablo
Project. The Company is currently formulating a multi-well drilling
plan for the development of the Home Run Field. This program is
expected to include the drilling of a minimum of three field
delineation wells during the next twelve months, with full development
ultimately requiring as many as fifteen wells.
Bud Brigham, the Company's Chairman, CEO and President, stated, "This
is a major discovery for our company, which represents the crowning
achievement in a year of successful drilling. The Home Run Field should
provide us with a significant developmental drilling program for
several years, substantially impacting our proved reserves, net
production and cash flow.
"The Home Run Field discovery illustrates the value that exists in our
vast prospect inventory. While our historical results demonstrate our
ability to continually grow our Company's reserves through the
drill-bit, this most recent discovery also confirms our belief that our
3-D seismic-based prospect inventory and drilling program can produce
major field discoveries within proven natural gas and oil producing
trends."
The 1,100 acre Home Run Field is located upthrown from two large,
untested 3-D delineated Vicksburg structures (Mariposa and Floyd) which
cover approximately 1,200 acres. Brigham currently plans to spud an
exploratory test of the estimated 1,000 acre Mariposa structure late in
the first quarter of 2000, and the Company believes that its Home Run
Field discovery has significantly enhanced the prospectiveness of this
large structural closure.
Bud Brigham further indicated, "We are also excited about drilling the
Mariposa and Floyd closures, which are related to the Home Run Field in
that they are adjacent faulted closures on the same large faulted
anticlinal structure. These potential traps provide our company with
the potential to double the reserves we've delineated with the Home Run
discovery. The Mariposa and Floyd structures are two examples of
additional high potential 3-D prospects that we have in inventory,
several of which should be drilled next year." |
