March 21, 2019 / TheNewswire / VANCOUVER, B.C. – As previously announced by Hillcrest Petroleum Ltd. (“Hillcrest” or the “Company”) the upgraded West Hazel production facility is in operation, and production started from 2 wells on January 13th and January 15th, respectively. Initial fluid production rates from both wells were as expected. Production from a 3rd well was brought on line in early March when weather conditions softened after an extreme record-breaking cold snap.
Production over the last 5 days from the 3 wells has averaged 150 barrels per day which meets the lower production estimates the company published in our previous releases, although those estimates considered production from all 4 wells. Hillcrest is encouraged by the early results, which are meeting or exceeding previous estimates. The Company is focused on efforts to maximize the production from the current wells and is further upgrading the potential of the injector well which in turn, if successful, could result in higher production numbers from the current 3 wells. A normalized sustained production rate is expected to take another 3-4 weeks and will be released when achieved.
Hillcrest will move to work on and start production from the 4th well once current efforts have been completed, results reviewed, and a rig is available.
As previously announced, under the terms of its Joint Venture Agreement on the West Hazel property, the Company will provide 100% of reactivation costs to return the field to production to earn a 75% Working Interest, reverting to 50% after recovery of reactivation costs.