I just hoped,lol, you may of had a little bird on your shoulder telling you some juicy news.
I'm still not confident we will get news on a JV partner until mid Jan at the earliest. Reason being is that the 3D data will not be available ( completed ) until the end of DEC and it may even be later than that, purely because it's holiday time. So until our prospective partner has a look at the data there will be no contracts signed. ?? Happy to be proven wrong though ?
Anyway you have inspired me to go back through the strategic plan ann and it was worth another read. I have highlighted some points that I had forgotten about. It's not just the Niobrara formation, the 3D also covers the J Sand and the Codell.
Hawks Springs, Wyoming
After the sale of 24,066 acres in Goshen County, Samson holds approximately 17,000 net acres in Goshen County, Wyoming that are prospective for the production of oil from the Niobrara Formation. The company�s preferred development strategy for the retained leasehold, referred to as the Hawk Springs project, is to farm-down a small part of its retained interest to a strategic partner. Ongoing discussions with prospective strategic partner(s) continue to progress and as a result, Samson is actively advancing its development plan, which comprises three steps: 1) The acquisition of 3-D seismic data for the purpose of high-grading drilling locations and optimizing well design. Samson has contracted a seismic data acquisition company and the project is currently in the permitting process. Data acquisition operations are expected to commence in mid to late October and will cover an acquisition area of 65 square miles (41,600 acres), this area exceeds the net Samson acreage of 17,000 acres because inside the acquisition area there are un-leased acres which Samson will attempt to acquire in the future and in order to achieve full fold coverage over the acreage a �halo� of data must be acquired around the extremities of the area of interest. 2) Following the processing and interpretation of the acquired data, Samson expects to drill two appraisal wells in the field. The appraisal wells are expected to be drilled horizontally with an extended lateral and completed using multi-stage fracture stimulation techniques, consistent with the company�s well designs employed in the successful Bakken development drilling program. Drilling operations for the two appraisal wells are currently scheduled for the first quarter of 2011. If the wells perform as expected, then the project would transition to full-field development. 3) Full-field development would be initially planned as a single rig operation and build to a second drilling rig as results and market conditions warrant. In addition to the Niobrara formation, there are two additional recognized target horizons in the region, including the J Sand and the Codell. The previously described 3-D seismic survey is designed to assess all three horizons to identify additional commercial potential for the purpose of mitigating total project risk. Samson�s early review of the project area has revealed several very attractive features of the Hawk Springs project: a) The surface terrain is mostly flat and the retained acres are largely being used for agriculture, which simplifies drilling, facility construction and pipe laying activities. b) The area is serviced by quality paved roads. c) There is an oil-receiving truck terminal located within ten miles of the project area, with the capacity to take the anticipated oil production from the field. Although the initial production from the field would be transported by truck, the terminal could accommodate the terminus of an oil field pipeline. This terminal and the pipelines that it services have access to oil refineries in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, giving several marketing options for produced crude oil. d) A major commercial grade railway line is located two miles from the northern boundary of the leasehold area, allowing access to rail trucked crude oil. Whilst there is no oil receiving terminal available at this time on the railway, the development of an oil pipeline to the railway line is a realistic possibility. Rail trucking facilities have proven economic for transporting oil out of other areas experiencing rapid growth in oil production, such as North Dakota, where multiplicity of markets become available. e) A major gas pipeline traverses the acreage, providing ready take-away capacity for associated natural gas production once a sales line and meter have been installed. f) Pipeline developers are discussing additional trunk lines for natural gas and there is a proposal for a new natural gas liquids pipeline that would initiate in North Dakota but travel south adjacent to the project. g) There are several electrical sub stations in the area that could be the recipient of electricity generated from natural gas fired power plants. This initial review therefore has established that, whilst Goshen County, Wyoming has not been a highly active petroleum region in the past, the development of this resource will be eminently feasible and relatively inexpensive.
SSN Price at posting:
6.0¢ Sentiment: ST Buy Disclosure: Held