Imperial reported that the drilling rig to deepen the disposal well at the Company's Green Tide Salt Water Disposal Facility (SWDF) is expected to commence drilling operations, slightly earlier than expected, Thursday, August 11, 2011.

The rig is expected to set a whipstock and sidetrack the well to TD over the next 10 days. The aim is to deepen the Green Tide SWDF well from 3,100 to 8,500 feet to establish the well around 500 feet to 600 feet into the Ellenburger formation. Casing will then be cemented from 500 feet into the Ellenberger to approximately 1,000 feet back up the hole and the well then drilled ahead to ideally create about 2,000 feet of open hole exposure in the Ellenburger so as to maximize disposal capacity.

Subject to success, commercial disposal operations are expected to commence immediately targeting full disposal capacity of 15,000 barrels per day as quickly as possible. At full capacity, the Company believes the Green Tide SWDF has the potential to generate significant cash flow at relatively low operating costs.

The Green Tide SWDF The Green Tide SWDF is conveniently located for the disposal of large volumes of salt water generated from essential fracture stimulation operations on Barnett Shale gas wells. There are approximately 6,000 such Barnett wells within 20 miles of the SWDF.

Imperial plans to reopen Green Tide to dispose of up to 15,000 barrels of salt water a day. The Company's acquisition and development of the low run-time Green Tide assets and disposal permit is expected to save in excess of $5,000,000, compared to a new build cost.

Green Tide is one of two key projects identified as transformational for Imperial (the other being the Company's Oklahoma project).

Tags: Imperial Resources