Empire Petroleum completes 21,006-foot well re-entry in Texas

Empire Petroleum Corporation has completed a successful 21,006-foot re-entry and subsurface evaluation of the Wakefield-Harrison GU B #1 well in the Fort Trinidad field, located in Madison County, Texas. The project involved re-entering a legacy wellbore originally drilled in 1959 and underreaming it to reach a measured depth of 21,006 feet (20,949 feet true vertical depth).

This operation exposed approximately 11,000 feet of previously untested formation below the historical development limits of the field, which typically reached roughly 10,000 feet. During the evaluation, the company utilized a modern open-hole logging suite and recovered sidewall cores. Gas chromatograph results identified hydrocarbon shows, including both gas and liquids (C1 and C4-plus), across the logged interval.

Empire noted a significant cost advantage by utilizing the existing wellbore, reporting a cost of approximately $4.4 million compared to the $30 million to $45 million typically required for drilling new ultra-deep wells. The company intends to use the collected logs and core samples to reprocess 3D seismic data across its acreage. The well has not yet been completed or production tested, and no specific reserve or resource estimates have been released.