Jun 12, 20222 min
First Helium received C$1.2 million for April crude oil sales. Cash flow from the light oil sales will continue to be deployed to help fund the Company's ongoing helium exploration and development activities. It plans to drill its first of two planned helium exploration wells in July. During May, the Company produced ~272bbl/d (due to downtime) and expects to receive ~C$700,000; production has returned to >500bbl/d over the last 5 days.
Press Release:
First Helium Inc, today announced that it has received $1.2 million for light oil volumes that the Company delivered for sale during the month of April. Cash flow from the light oil sales will continue to be deployed to help fund the Company’s ongoing helium exploration and development activities at its 100% owned Worsley Property, and the Southern Alberta (Lethbridge) Lands.
During the month of May, the Company produced approximately 272 barrels per day (“bbl/d”) and delivered approximately 8,200 barrels of light oil for sale, down from previous months and from expected production capability. The lower volume was a result of down-time related to a number of seasonal factors that included: inclement regional wet weather at the Company’s oil battery location, road use restrictions and limited access due to overland flooding. During the down-time, the Company took the opportunity to complete some required regulatory testing and reporting requirements and to optimize its oil battery operations. In late June, the Company expects to receive approximately $700,000 for oil volumes delivered during May.
“While periods of combined precipitation and spring run-off limited our ability to produce and truck oil volumes at normal capacity during late April and May, we are pleased that we were able to use the unscheduled down-time to optimize the configuration of the two-well oil battery and perform some necessary operations to meet regulatory reporting requirements,” said Ed Bereznicki, President & CEO of First Helium. “We are also pleased to report that our two-well battery has returned to routine operation with daily production volumes averaging approximately 520 bbl/d of light oil over the past five days and that we have taken remedial steps to help mitigate future production down-time associated with limited road access to the battery,” added Mr. Bereznicki.
The Company is finalizing necessary preparations to begin drilling the first of its two recently announced helium targets in July, dependent on satisfactory weather-related field conditions. As with the Company’s 15-25 helium discovery well, which includes associated volumes of natural gas and natural gas liquids, First Helium intends to market any associated surplus hydrocarbon volumes included in any new helium discovery wells to capitalize on the current robust outlook for natural gas and liquids pricing, and maximize cash flow in support of further growth. First Helium’s 79,000 acres along the Worsley Trend is highly prospective for both helium and natural gas. Historical exploration and development drilling on the trend has encountered rich helium concentrations ranging from 0.5% to 1.9% in a number of formations.