Investor’s in Nighthawk Energy (AIM: HAWK) pushed shares in the junior oil and gas company higher after the company released a independent valuation of the hydrocarbons in place at the Jolly and Craig Ranch fields, which are part of the larger Jolly Ranch Project in Lincoln County, Colorado.
Only last week, Nighthawk Energy released an independent technical review of the Buchanan Group project covering Missouri and Kansas, and announced it will integrate the Devon Oilfield, Buchanan and Xenia into a single major development project, to be known as the Revere project. The review, conducted by Oilfield Production Consultants Ltd (OPC) calculated the stock tank oil originally in place (STOOIP) over the evaluated project area covering 29,210 acres at 184.26 million barrels of oil. Nighthawk has a 50% interest in the Revere Project.
Today’s independent valuation completed by Schlumberger Data & Consulting Services for the Jolly and Ranch fields was equally encouraging, estimating a P50 for the 246,000 gross acres to be 1.462 billion barrels of oil. Nighthawk Energy has a 50% interest in Jolly Ranch, with the remaining 50% held by Running Foxes Petroleum Inc. Schlumberger assessed the Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous) Marmaton, Cherokee and Atoka formations. In addition, a further model encompassing an area of 885,988 acres, surrounding and including the study area of 246,000 acres, showed the formations are “likely to be laterally continuous”.
"The results of the review provide not only transparent figures for our core asset but also corroborate Nighthawk`s strategy and underpin progress made to date,” stated David Bramhill, Managing Director of Nighthawk Energy. “My belief that Jolly Ranch has the potential to become a "world class" asset has been strengthened considerably by these results.” Bramhill went on to say that that he believed the size and location of the project would place Jolly Ranch on the “radar screens of major energy companies”.
House broker, HansonWesthouse reiterated its ‘buy’ stance on the stock, noting that the current share price was considerably lower than its own valuation of the company of 268 pence. “This news confirms our previous view that the Jolly Ranch acreage is a world class asset,” HansonWesthouse said.
Ambrian Capital initiated coverage last week with a ‘buy’ and setting a target price of 62 pence, noting that Nighthawk Energy has made solid progress on advancing its large land position.