Trio Petroleum Corp (NYSE American: “TPET”, “Trio” or the “Company”), a California-based oil and gas company, today provided updates on its recently completed drilling activities in Uintah County, Utah. The Company has successfully drilled its first two exploratory wells, the HSO 8-4 and HSO 2-4. The HSO 8-4 was drilled to a total depth of 1,020’, while the HSO 2-4 was drilled to a depth of 1,390’. The wells encountered substantial oil-bearing pay zones in the Rimrock and Asphalt Ridge Sandstones, over 100’ of oil-pay in the Rimrock Sandstone in the HSO 8-4 well and over 190’ combined in the Rimrock and Asphhalt Ridge Sandstones in the HSO 2-4 well.
A downhole-heater was installed in the HSO 2-4 well the heating process began on June 3, 2024, with production expected to begin later this week. The HSO 8-4 is currently waiting for a second downhole-heater to be delivered and is expected to be installed on or before June 15, 2024.
“This is a very positive next step for our Company,” commented Michael Peterson, CEO of Trio. “The geological data prior to drilling were very positive, and the drilling results are confirming our favorable view of this project. Our expectation for these two wells, and this field, were extremely high based on the data we previously studied. The new cores of the tar sand show very high oil saturation and oil drips from the core when heat is applied, and the bitumen and sand separate within minutes when the core is placed in boiling water. This is very encouraging as we will be heating the wells to temperatures much higher than the boiling point of water with downhole-heaters and/or by injecting steam. We are additionally encouraged to see that the well logs, the core samples which show very high oil saturation, and all other empirical evidence from drilling these two exploratory wells substantiated our hopes and expectations.”
“Based on this new data, we believe the economic impact of our ownership interest in the Asphalt Ridge project has the potential to quickly exceed that of our substantial assets in California. The data support the expectation that the wells will be highly economic with stable long-lived production value, if our production and resource estimates prove to be accurate. At this point, we are working to complete the remaining steps required to bring these wells into production and evaluate the next steps in our development plan at Asphalt Ridge,” concluded Mr. Peterson.
The production profile of a typical project well has been extensively modeled, and it currently projects an estimated 40% oil recovery and an estimated ultimate recovery (“EUR”) of 300,000 barrels of oil per well with a production rate of approximately 40 barrels of oil per day per well. With an expected total drilling and completion cost of less than $500,000 per well, our initial drilling results appear to validate the well economics previously projected. With this data, the Company intends to exercise its rights to acquire the remaining 17.75% working interest in the initial 960 acres.
Under the current agreement, Trio’s operating partner, Lafayette Energy Corp, carries all drilling costs through the first $10 million of capital expenditures. Lafayette Energy Corp, through its operator, Valkor Oil and Gas, is expected to drill the third well as early as late June and intends to drill five additional wells during Q3 2024, subject to rig and services availability.
During the drilling process, the Company was required to gather extensive data for submission to the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (“OGM”). As part of the drilling process, the Company also cored oil-bearing sandstones, assayed, and subsequently conducted core analysis. All of these data are being submitted to the OGM as part of the overall unitization of the project. Once that process is complete, the Company will be permitted to scale its drilling program, with the ability to drill wells on as little as 1.5 acre spacing. On the initial 960 acres, the current development plan is to drill approximately 476 wells. There is an opportunity to expand Trio’s participation in the project by an additional 1,920 acres thereafter.