US focused oil and gas group Nighthawk Energy Plc (LON:HAWK) this morning gave further details about its efforts to sell a majority stake in its flagship Jolly Ranch Project in Colorado. The company said that specialist acquisitions and divestments house Macquarie Tristone was working on the basis of selling a 75% working interest in the project, which is currently held in a 50/50 joint venture with the project operator, Running Foxes Petroleum.
Macquarie has been hired to market 406,400 gross acres at Jolly Ranch against the current total acreage of the project of 416,000 gross acres. The recently drilled Craig 6-4 (Total Depth 7,315 feet), the Craig 16-32 (TD 7,342 feet) and the John Craig 7-2 (TD 8,400 feet) wells will be included within the marketing memorandum. The John Craig 7-2 is currently undergoing completion in the Cherokee formation. The memorandum will also include analysis of project economics and forward projections.
Nighthawk noted that if the price was right, the two partners were prepared to sell a majority interest and, in the case of Running Foxes, operatorship in the project. A date for final offers for the project has been set at July 23, 2010, with the signing of a purchase and sale agreement scheduled for July 30, although these dates are non-binding and may be subject to change. The company added that there was no assurance that the marketing process would result in a sale.
Earlier this month Nighthawk reported that promising findings from the Craig 6-4, Craig 16-32 and John Craig 7-2 wells, substantiated earlier positive analysis by oilfield consultants Schlumberger of the Cherokee and Atoka shales that run throughout the Jolly Ranch area. In July 2009 Schlumberger reported that the P50, or most likely, oil in place in the three primary formations over approximately two-thirds of the Jolly Ranch acreage held was 1.462 billion barrels gross.
I've got a great idea. Why don't we have a quick whip round and put in an offer for Jolly Ranch? I've got a china pig that I put all my copper in every night, must be seven or eight quid in it by now and a few pounds in my jacket pocket will make it up to a tenner. I don;t mind taking a gamble with that portion of my portfolio. If you all do the same we could easily raise the £120 that this world class asset (which contains 50 billion barrels of oil in place) must be worth on the open market.
What do you say?
