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Property And Equipment
3 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2012
Notes to Financial Statements  
Property And Equipment

2. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT:

 

GABBS VALLEY PROSPECT

As of June 30, 2012, the Company's leasehold acreage in the Gabbs Valley Prospect consisted of 34,186 gross acres and the Company’s ownership in such leasehold acreage is 50%.

 

As of December 31, 2005, there had been no wells drilled on the Gabbs Valley Prospect. However, in November 2005, the Company received the results of a 19-mile 2-D swath seismograph survey conducted on the prospect and, based on the results of the survey, the Company and its partners determined that a test well should be drilled on the prospect.

 

The Company drilled its first test well on this prospect in 2006. After reaching 5,195 feet in connection with drilling this well (the Empire Cobble Cuesta 1-12), the Company and its partners elected to suspend operations on the well, and released the drilling rig and associated equipment. Company personnel and consultants then evaluated the drilling and logging data and after the study was completed, Empire and its partners decided to conduct a thorough testing program on the well. The Company re-entered the well on April 17, 2007 and conducted a series of drill stem tests and recovered only drilling mud. It was then determined after considerable study that the formation is likely very sensitive to mud and water used in drilling which may have caused clays in the formation to swell preventing any oil that might be present to flow into the well bore.

 

In 2008, the Company and its partners engaged W. L. Gore and Associates to carry out an Amplified Geochemical Imaging Survey which covered approximately sixteen square miles. The survey was concentrated along the apex of the large Cobble Cuesta structure which included the areas around the Empire Cobble Cuesta 1-12 exploratory test and the other test well drilled in the immediate area. Both of these tests encountered oil shows and the geochemical survey indicated potential hydrocarbons beyond the two well bores. Thereafter, a new Federal drilling unit was formed and approved by the Bureau of Land Management. This unit was known as the Paradise Drilling Unit.

 

In July 2010, the Company entered into a farm-in agreement with its joint lease holders holding a 41% working interest in the 40,073 acre Paradise Unit. On July 19, 2010, the Company commenced drilling a test well in the Paradise Unit on the Gabbs Valley Prospect in Nevada. The Company drilled the Paradise Unit 2-12 test well to a depth of 4,250 feet before drilling problems caused the Company to cease drilling. The Company tested the well between 3,700 feet and 3,782 feet where oil shows were found. The Company recovered small amounts of oil containing paraffin, which may have been restricting the oil flow. However, swab tests failed to increase the oil flow and the Company has suspended operations on the well and assigned the lease and the 1-12 and 2-12 wells to the other leasehold owners from which the

Company had taken a farmout. The new owners are performing further testing on the 2-12 well and assumed liabilities associated with the lease and both the 1-12 and 2-12 wells. The Company has utilized the results to date of the testing and other factors to determine its next action with respect to the Gabbs Valley leasehold. The Company is now looking for an industry partner to take a farmout on approximately 25,000 acres with the obligation to drill a test well to a depth of 7,000 feet or 500 feet into the Triassic formation, whichever first occurs.

 

SOUTH OKIE PROSPECT

 

In 2009, the Company purchased 2,630 net acres of oil and gas leases known as the South Okie Prospect in Natrona County, Wyoming. The Tensleep Sand at depths from 3,300 feet to 4,500 feet is the primary target. As of December 31, 2009, the Company acquired 11 miles of seismic data and studies of this data were completed in early January 2010. An additional geological study was also completed in early January 2010. Subject to securing additional financing and/or engaging an industry partner, the Company plans to drill or cause to be drilled a test well.