QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Aug. 27, 2014) - Junex Inc. (TSX VENTURE:JNX) ("Junex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has acquired additional drilling equipment that upgrades its maximum drilling depth capacity to approximately 3,000 meters. This drilling rig, known as Foragaz Rig No. 4, will be used to drill the Company's next horizontal wells on its Galt Oil property, starting with the Junex Galt No. 4 Horizontal Well to be drilled this autumn.
"This important addition to our drilling fleet allows us to meet our needs to drill horizontal wells on our Galt Oil Property, on our highly-prospective acreage in the Deep Fairway on Anticosti Island, and on all of our landholdings elsewhere in Quebec. With respect to our Galt No. 4 Horizontal Well, much of the drilling equipment is already at a staging area near the well location and the remainder of the equipment and supplies are being mobilized at this time. In order to respect the administrative time period established by the new Regulation on groundwater protection that entered into force on August 14th, Junex plans to start drilling this well after September 24th." stated Mr. Peter Dorrins, Junex's President & Chief Executive Officer.
The Junex Galt No. 4 Horizontal well, the first in a series of horizontal wells planned for the next phase of the project, will be drilled from the existing Junex Galt No. 4 vertical wellbore towards the Galt No. 3 well in the Forillon Formation. The wellbore trajectory is designed to intersect a greater number of open, near-vertical fractures than that encountered in the Galt No. 3 vertical well that Junex recently production tested at an initial rate of 180 barrels of oil per day in late July (see July 30, 2014 press release).
Mr. Dorrins continued: "Our business model of owning and operating our own drilling equipment to explore and develop our acreage differs markedly from most of our competitors who typically contract drilling companies to drill their wells. Our equipment, crewed by our Quebec-resident employees, provides us with significant cost savings and flexibility in that we can drill at times of our choosing without experiencing significant additional costs and delays associated with mobilizing drilling equipment from Western Canada. The local economic benefits that ensue from our operations are substantial in that we estimate that about 65% of our total drilling investments remain in Quebec, of which employees, goods and service providers on the Gaspé Peninsula harvest a significant portion".
Junex holds 70% interest in the 16,645 acre-sized Galt Oil Property and 100% interest in the 36,816 acre-sized permit adjacent to the Galt Oil Property. The adjacent 100% Junex acreage has not yet been independently evaluated for its resource potential. These landholdings are situated approximately 20 kilometers from the town of Gaspé in eastern Quebec.
Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc., ("NSAI"), a firm of worldwide petroleum consultants based in Texas, has previously established their Best Estimate of the total OIIP resources for the Forillon and Indian Point formations on Junex's Galt Oil Property at 330 million barrels that includes Discovered Contingent OIIP volumes of 36 million barrels and Undiscovered Prospective OIIP volumes of 294 million barrels (see press release from March 27, 2013 for details of the NSAI report).
About Junex
Junex is a junior oil and gas exploration company that holds exploration rights on approximately 5.2 million acres of land located in the Appalachian basin in the Province of Quebec. The company is in the heart of the Utica Shale gas discovery located in the St. Lawrence Lowlands and holds a significant land-package on the Anticosti Island where an independent report has provided their Best Estimate of the undiscovered shale oil initially-in-place ("OIIP") volume for the Macasty Shale on all five of Junex's permits on Anticosti Island at 12.2 billion barrels. In parallel to its exploration efforts in Quebec and expansion of its exploration activities elsewhere, the company operates a drilling services division.
Forward-Looking Statements and Disclaimer
Certain statements in this press release may be forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are based on the best estimates available to Junex at the time and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Junex's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. A description of the risks affecting Junex's business and activities appears under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" on pages 8 to 11 of Junex's 2013 annual management's discussion and analysis, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information in this press release will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that Junex will derive therefrom. In particular, no assurance can be given as to the future financial performance of Junex. Junex disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in order to account for any new information or any other event. The reader is warned against undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.