Denver-based Dejour Energy, Inc. said today it will drill an initial vertical test well on its 7,000-acre leasehold in Rio Blanco County – directly south of the Rangely Oil Field operated by Chevron.
The firm said that the well will be drilled next month to test both the upper and lower Niobrara sections of the Mancos Shale – targeted zones known to contain both oil and natural gas, said the company.
The leasehold sits on the western flank of the Douglas Arch, separating the Piceance and Unitah Basins.
If the test well is successful, Dejour says it plans to commence a formal horizontal well development program.
Dejour identified itself as the project operator and 72 percent working interest holder in the test well.
The firm also said that a “secondary target” of the operation is the Castlegate Sand which will also be evaluated by the test well.
“The economics of assessing the production potential at South Rangely offers significant production upside with minimal expenditure,” said Dejour spokesman Hal Blacker.
“With a dry hole projected to be less than $500,000, this is a very low cost test that may open the door to a much broader and more significant development project through…current horizontal well drilling,” he added.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
