Ann: Bowtie West Prospect Drilling Update , page-7

an Australian company associated with the project has announced........



After almost two years of delays, private US company Texakoma has spudded its first well in the Bowtie West prospect, 60 miles southwest of Houston, an Australian company associated with the project has announced.
The Sugar Valley-1 well was originally planned to be drilled in April 2010, under a deal that would have seen Yarras Texas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Golden Gate Petroleum, pay 20% of drilling costs to earn an 18% stake in the prospect.

But the prospect was delayed, first by inclement weather, then in delays in finalising agreements with landholders before additional delays in securing a rig for the well.

Last month Perth-based Verus Investments, which held another 18% stake in the project, announced it would withdraw from the prospect following “a detailed geological and geophysical review.”

Golden Gate has since revised its stake also, with Yarras now to pay 11.1% of drilling costs to earn a 10% working interest in the project.

“While we are excited by the prospect opportunity, it became prudent to farm out a portion of our working interest to balance our overall portfolio,” Golden Gate said in an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

The Sugar Valley-1 well is currently 430 feet into a 13,000 foot drilling programme, testing a Vicksburg sandstone reservoir known as the Tex-2 formation as well as shallower Frio sandstone reservoirs.

Golden Gate said the Bowtie West prospect had prospective resources of 30 billion cubic feet of gas and about 540,000 barrels of oil, and would most likely require three wells to meet its full high-side resource potential