Wedgemount Resources Corp (CSE:WDGY, OTCQB:WDGRF) CEO Mark Vanry talked with Proactive about the company's recent operational updates in central Texas.
Following extreme winter weather that caused temporary shutdowns, the company has resumed production and is now focused on optimizing newly acquired wells.
Vanry also highlighted the potential of the Huggy acquisition, which includes 111 producing wells.
Proactive: Welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Mark Vanry, the CEO of Wedgemount Resources. Mark, it's great to see you again. How are you?
Mark Vanry: Yeah, not bad. Glad to be on again to give people a quick update this morning.
Absolutely. I know that you restarted your operations after some weather challenges about a week and a half ago. Now that you're back up and running, what’s the latest update? Are you happy with what you’re seeing?
Yeah, absolutely. Some people don’t associate central Texas with harsh winter weather, but we experienced three shutdowns in January and February. Temperatures dropped to -22°C with wind chills, which is unusual for that region. The facilities there aren’t built to handle those conditions, so we had to temporarily halt operations.
We've now been back up and running for a couple of weeks, and we’re seeing some promising developments. I wanted to highlight some of the opportunities from our recent Huggy acquisition, particularly in the Echo and Novice areas. We’re currently working on surface facilities and well optimizations, as outlined in our latest press release. Some of the wells we’ve identified could be more productive than our previous acquisitions.
You mentioned initial production (IP) rates in the press release, ranging from 15 to 65 BOEs per day. How does that compare to your previous acquisitions?
These numbers are strong. Our earlier acquisitions produced anywhere from 5 to 20 BOEs per day, so the new wells have a lot of potential. Around 80% of that production is light oil, which is great.
What’s exciting is that with the right optimization work, we believe we can not only bring these wells back to their initial production levels but possibly exceed them. We’ve already seen this happen in some of our other fields.
You’re reactivating five wells right now. Do you think any of them could exceed the production levels you’ve seen in the past?
Absolutely. When you drill a new well, the highest production rates typically occur at initial production. That period can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on whether the well is shale or conventional. After that, production generally declines over time.
The key differentiator for us is our specialty chemical treatments. That’s the foundation of our strategy. With these treatments, we’ve been able to maintain or even surpass initial production rates for extended periods.
For example, at our Davis lease—our first acquisition back in April 2023—the wells initially produced seven barrels per day. Now, 18 months later, they’re producing over 20 barrels per day. While every well is different, this kind of performance gives us confidence that we can achieve similar success in our new assets.
In the press release, you also mentioned that there are more than 100 additional wells that you can apply your chemical treatment to. That’s a lot of potential. Is that why you pursued this acquisition?
Absolutely. Our strategy is to acquire distressed properties, whether they are operationally or financially distressed. The Huggy acquisition was a combination of both. None of the wells in this acquisition have had the type of optimization work that we specialize in, which means there’s significant opportunity.
In total, we acquired 111 producing wells in this deal, and we haven’t even begun applying our full chemical treatment program yet. There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit here, and that’s what makes us so excited about this asset.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and style