SAN DIEGO, Nov. 22, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Royale Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:ROYL) today announced that it has set completion casing on the Emerald Ridge well, in the Sacramento basin of California. The well encountered two significant gas shows that required high weight drilling fluids in order to reach the total depth of nearly 4,700 feet. Electric logs over the zones of the gas shows were encouraging, but not conclusive, thus leading to the decision to run pipe to total depth in order to perform production testing on the well within the next few weeks.
Prior to drill the Emerald Ridge, the Memento #1 reached a total depth of 6,000 ft, with Electric logs indicating three prospective gas zones in the Upper Forbes. The company will test the two lower most zones next week. The third and the shallowest of the pay zones occupy a large area and can potentially hold significant gas accumulations. This upper zone will be completed once the lower zones have been produced out.
While the completion work on Memento and Emerald Ridge is underway, the company is moving the rig to its Cardiff well location some ¾ miles northwest of Royale's Bristol well which encountered pay zones at several intervals and is currently producing from the lowest of these zones. The Cardiff well, which has a planned T.D. of 6000 ft., has two main objectives – the deeper of which is equivalent but separate from the lower productive zone at Bristol. The upper zone is associated with a shallower untested seismic amplitude anomaly.
Royale plans to move the rig from Cardiff to its Victor Ranch field and begin drilling the Victor Ranch 3-20 by year end. The well will be the 26th well in the field Royale has been operating since it drilled the Victor Ranch 12 in 1993.
Forward Looking Statements
In addition to historical information contained herein, this news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those in the "forward-looking" statements. While the company believes its forward looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, there are factors that are difficult to predict and that are influenced by economic and other conditions beyond the company's control. Investors are directed to consider such risks and other uncertainties discussed in documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.