Royale provides source rock estimate

Royale Energy Inc. has released a third-party estimate of its North Slope acreage.

At an average recovery rate of nearly 5 percent and mean oil-in-place of some 80,473 barrels per acre, the three source rock intervals underlying the 96,882-acre leasehold would yield 3,995 barrels per acre, according to Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc.

The global consulting firm provided an oil-in-place range of 14,288 to 167,220 barrels per acre for the acreage, which would yield recovery of 632 to 8,473 barrels per acre.

With spacing at 160 acres per well, the mean estimate would yield an average estimated ultimate recovery rate of 639,119 barrels per well. By comparison, the U.S. Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook 2012 provided average EURs of 550,000 barrels for a Bakken formation well and 280,000 for an Eagle Ford shale well.

The San Diego-based Royale Energy is developing its acreage with Australia-based Rampart Energy Ltd. The farm-in deal initially calls for Rampart to fund two wells with horizontal laterals in the 39,539-acre Western Block of the acreage by March 31, 2015.

The report estimates this block contains a mean EUR of nearly 158 million barrels.

—Eric Lidji