Tri-Valley Corporation says its Lenox Ranch Lease No. 109-H oil well has successfully set casing at its pre-determined vertical depth, in preparation to make the turn for a horizontal bore into the Upper Vaca Tar Sands formation of the Oxnard, California oilfield. The Company intends to develop the lease with at least 10 such wells for production and ultimately drill several injector wells for continuous steaming to heat up the tar oil sands for ease of production and high recovery.

During the past year, Tri-Valley has successfully drilled seven other such horizontal oil wells on the Hunsucker Lease, just north of the Lenox Ranch Lease and, while steadily recovering oil from that project, it has been expanding the facilities there to accommodate much larger production capacity than initially thought possible.

"With sufficient heating cycles, all these wells can flow at least 500 barrels of oil per day. Of course, this requires commensurate expansion of every aspect of the field infrastructure from natural gas supply to fuel the steam generators, to treatment and processing equipment and storage facilities. Ultimately we will drill companion injector wells that enable continuous steaming for continuous production. Once all the said infrastructure is in place, our production rates will achieve maximum capacity," said F. Lynn Blystone, president and chief executive officer.

Tags: Tri-Valley Corporation