Whitebark Energy moves to commercial oil production at Rex-2

Whitebark Energy (ASX: WBE) will begin commercial production at its Rex-2 well after successful testing, with Rex-2 also outperforming the Rex-1 well.

During testing, the final 24 hour flow rates averaged 700 barrels of oil equivalent per day and continued to trend upwards.

This compared to Rex-1, which achieved flow rates of 340boepd.

Rex-2 flow rates at day seven were 15% and 105% respectively ahead of initial commercial production rates recorded for Rex-1 at day 14.

With the well flowing unassisted for 82 hours, Whitebark has now shut-in Rex-2 to optimise tubing size and configure the well to flow to the central facility.

Whitebark anticipates Rex-2 will be placed on production to existing facilities within a few days.

“We are confident that the Rex-2 well would be as good as, if not better than the Rex-1 oil discovery and we are delighted with the initial results,” Whitebark managing director David Messina said.

“Rex-2 has significantly exceeded Rex-1, flowing greater rates of oil, and overall more than double the oil equivalent flow rate.”

Wizard Lake oil field

The Rex wells are part of the Wizard Lake oil field in Canada where Whitebark has secured a 30% working interest.

Upon completion of Rex-2, Whitebark expects its working interest in the permit will increase to 40%.

Whitebark anticipates the Rex prospect has the potential or more than 20 follow up development wells, with Rex-3 to be drilled before the end of the year.

Once Rex-3 has been completed, the company’s working interest will rise to 50%.

“We have now successfully drilled two wells in the Rex oil field, demonstrating our execution capabilities and the consistency of our acreage with results by other operators from the same reservoir,” Mr Messina said.

Within the Rex prospect, Whitebark is targeting 11mboe. Overall, Whitebark’s share of Wizard Lake’s 3P reserves totals 419Mboe.

This morning’s news send Whitebark’s share price up more than 11% to trade at $0.01.