Fall River said the oil output was expected to increase with the installation of greater water handling capacity.
Company president Ian McBain said the well was producing on a beam-pump.
“Fall River is pleased to have started oil production from this well to and is looking forward to establishing the long-term productivity of this well on pump and to advance development of this project,” he said.
“The first up success with West Florence-1 from these zones alone augurs well for the interpreted presence of a large oil and gas development opportunity over the large acreage position held by the project.
“We envisage a scenario based on adjacent historical production of numerous modest rate producing oil wells with the potential to providing cumulative significant oil production. Further testing and drilling success is required to establish this scenario.”
Following this initial exploration success, the joint venture is planning to drill another well to evaluate the Pierre Shale Formation’s potential.
This fractured shale historically produced about 15 million barrels up to the 1940s from the adjacent Florence oil field.
Fall River said the nearby Javernick Royal Gorge-1, which was completed in 2005, is producing from the Pierre Formation at 100bopd.
Additionally the joint venture is considering shooting a 3D seismic survey in the West Florence acreage to advance development of the project.
West Florence-1 was the first well to be drilled in the West Florence oil and gas project and its 12,000 acres of associated leasehold, in the Florence sub basin of the Denver basin.
Operator Mountain Petroleum has estimated the West Florence play contains 100-200 billion cubic feet of recoverable gas reserves in the sands of the Muddy J and Dakota Formation.
In addition, the three secondary targets – the Pierre, Niobrara and Codell Formations – were estimated to contain up to 15 million barrels of oil reserves.
Participants are: Mountain Petroleum Corporation (operator and 25%), Victoria Petroleum (25%), Fall River Resources (15%), Adelaide Energy (15%), North American Oil Gas Energy (5%) and various private US interests (15%).
