Miller Energy Completes Unprecedented Horizontal Well in Tennessee

Miller Energy Completes Unprecedented Horizontal Well in Tennessee

CPP-H-1 Well Initial Production at 365 Barrels of Oil per Day

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Miller Energy Resources ("Miller") (NYS: MILL) announced today that, on Saturday, January 12, it had tested water free oil production from the company's CPP-H-1 well. The CPP-H-1 well is the first successful horizontal well drilled and completed in the Mississippian Age Fort Payne formation in North America.

The well tested at a restricted rate of 487 BOE per day on a ¾" choke. The rate was restricted in order to conserve as much reservoir energy as possible. A breakdown of the initial production test consists of 365 BOPD, 730 MCFGPD, and 0 BWPD. The company plans to begin producing the well as soon as Miller Energy Receives EPA permission to begin reinjecting the produced gas in order to maintain reservoir pressure. The Fort Payne reservoirs are solution gas drive reservoirs, and management feels that it is critical to maintain reservoir pressure in order to maximize oil production.

Based on the initial flow tests, the company expects this will be a very strong and commercially successful well. Although this well represents an unprecedented achievement, based on what is known about the formation, the geology and the initial reservoir pressure, Miller expects that the well will produce in the range of 200 to 225 BOEPD once reinjection has started and full production has begun. The company plans to provide regular updates to the public as more results come in on this well.

Miller has also recently spudded its second Fort Payne well, and expects similar results from that new well, once complete. Two additional horizontal well sites in Tennessee have been designated for development in the near term. At present, the company has identified 25 sites on which similar horizontal wells may be developed on approximately 40,000 acres held by Miller under lease or by production in the state. The company has previously recovered approximately 9% of the oil believed to exist on its acreage and expects that future horizontal wells will significantly increase this recovery factor.

"The successful development of CPP-H-1 is a game changer for oil production in the State of Tennessee and the whole Appalachian Basin," said Scott M. Boruff, Miller's CEO. "We have been very excited for a very long time about the prospects for our Tennessee assets, and we are thrilled that we can finally share that excitement with the world at large. I have to thank David Wright, our EVP of Tennessee operations, along with our geologists, Dr. Gary Bible and John Miller, who worked out the details of our horizontal drilling strategy in Tennessee. Their hard work and insight have given us a new avenue of growth, one which our company is uniquely positioned to take advantage of."

About Miller Energy Resources

Miller Energy Resources, Inc. is a high growth oil and natural gas exploration, production and drilling company operating in multiple exploration and production basins in North America. Miller's focus is in Cook Inlet, Alaska and in the heart of Tennessee's prolific and hydrocarbon-rich Appalachian Basin including the Mississippian Lime and the Chattanooga Shale. Miller is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee with offices in Anchorage, Alaska and Huntsville, Tennessee. The company's common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol MILL.

Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this press release and elsewhere by Miller Energy Resources¸ Inc. are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve the implied assessment that the resources described can be profitably produced in the future, based on certain estimates and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by Miller Energy Resources, Inc. and described in the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, the potential for Miller Energy to experience additional operating losses; high debt costs under its existing senior credit facility; potential limitations imposed by debt covenants under its senior credit facility on its growth and ability to meet business objectives; the need to enhance management, systems, accounting, controls and reporting performance; uncertainties related to the filing of its Form 10-K for 2011; litigation risks; its ability to perform under the terms of its oil and gas leases, and exploration licenses with the Alaska DNR, including meeting the funding or work commitments of those agreements; its ability to successfully acquire, integrate and exploit new productive assets in the future; its ability to recover proved undeveloped reserves and convert probable and possible reserves to proved reserves; risks associated with the hedging of commodity prices; its dependence on third party transportation facilities; concentration risk in the market for the oil we produce in Alaska; the impact of natural disasters on its Cook Inlet Basin operations; adverse effects of the national and global economic downturns on our profitability; the imprecise nature of its reserve estimates; drilling risks; fluctuating oil and gas prices and the impact on results from operations; the need to discover or acquire new reserves in the future to avoid declines in production; differences between the present value of cash flows from proved reserves and the market value of those reserves; the existence within the industry of risks that may be uninsurable; constraints on production and costs of compliance that may arise from current and future environmental, FERC and other statutes, rules and regulations at the state and federal level; the impact that future legislation could have on access to tax incentives currently enjoyed by Miller; that no dividends may be paid on its common stock for some time; cashless exercise provisions of outstanding warrants; market overhang related to restricted securities and outstanding options, and warrants; the impact of non-cash gains and losses from derivative accounting on future financial results; and risks to non-affiliate shareholders arising from the substantial ownership positions of affiliates. Additional information on these and other factors, which could affect Miller's operations or financial results, are included in Miller Energy Resources, Inc.'s reports on file with United States Securities and Exchange Commission including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2012. Miller Energy Resources, Inc.'s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward- looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in its periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its Web site (www.sec.gov). All forward-looking statements attributable to Miller Energy Resources or to persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change unless otherwise required under securities law.

Miller Energy Resources
Robert L. Gaylor, 865-223-6575
SVP Investor Relations
Fax: 865-691-8209
bobby@millerenergyresources.com
http://www.millerenergyresources.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America Tennessee

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Miller Energy Completes Unprecedented Horizontal Well in Tennessee originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.