Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. reported the achievement of the Company's stated objective of reaching 5,000 net barrels of oil production per day before the end of 2011. The recent initiation of production from seven gross Eagle Ford Shale wells from the Pfluger and Irvin leases and the Speaker #1 in the Niobrara Formation propelled Carrizo's net overall daily oil production to approximately 6,040 barrels on December 26 according to the Company's internal calculations.

"It may have appeared optimistic when we announced our 5,000 bopd target in mid-2010 given that we were producing approximately 400 bopd at the time and had no production from the Eagle Ford or Niobrara," commented President and CEO S. P. "Chip" Johnson IV, "however I had confidence that our operations staff would be able to quickly ramp production from our leasehold in these two plays. I believe reaching the 5,000 bopd milestone is an outstanding achievement which exemplifies the quality of Carrizo's operations team. The initiation of production from these last eight wells brings our well count to 23 gross producing Eagle Ford wells with another 13 gross wells drilled waiting on completion and 9 gross Niobrara wells producing with one gross well waiting on completion.

"Based on our well inventory and drilling and completion forecast, we expect to reach a net oil production rate of as much as 7,000 bopd by the end of 2012 from the Eagle Ford alone."

Tags: Carrizo Oil & Gas