Privately held, Centennial, Colo.-based Running Foxes Petroleum Inc. and its 50% partner report they have established the first oil production for the Atoka and Cherokee shales in Lincoln County, Colorado.

Production is to the west of the Las Animas Arch in the southern part of the Denver Basin, according to Running Foxes. This includes Bolero Field, Jolly Ranch Field and Craig Ranch Field.

Bolero Field oil production is in both shales in vertical wells at 6,300 to 7,200 feet. Running Foxes drilled 12 vertical producing wells, one horizontal producing well and two disposal wells. Production rates are 50 to 180 barrels of oil per day. The Bolero Field horizontal well includes a 2,006-foot lateral that targets the carbonate below the Tebo shale of the Cherokee formation. This well is awaiting final completion.

Jolly Ranch Field oil production is from the Atoka shales from 7,000 to 7,400 feet. Production rates vary from 20 to 80 barrels per day.

Craig Ranch Field is currently awaiting completion after being reopened by Running Foxes. The field previously produced oil from Atoka shales, producing 14,000 barrels of oil before being abandoned for low oil prices and mechanical problems. The company says new technology and stable oil prices have again made Craig Ranch Field economical.

Running Foxes plans to reopen Manassas Field, which previously produced oil from an Atoka Sandstone at 7,300 feet.

The southern Denver Basin has produced from Morrow and Mssissippian reservoirs below the Pennsylvanian Cherokee and Atoka shales. The source of oil in these conventional reservoirs west of the Las Animas Arch has never been identified. Extensive coring by Running Foxes notably recovered carbonaceous-shale samples bleeding oil. Testing by Weatherford Laboratories has found oil and gas saturations consistently similar to other typical oil- and gas-producing shale reservoirs.

The company is also producing gas from the same Cherokee shales in the Cherokee Basin. The Atoka shales are presently producing gas in the western Anadarko Basin. Running Foxes reports its new play is the first to establish oil production from these shales. There are additional areas established by four new 3-D surveys showing additional areas of potential sweet spots in these two shales as well as several conventional targets.

Running Foxes has oil and gas operations in the Cherokee and Sedgwick basins in Kansas, the Denver Basin in southeastern Colorado and the Uncompahgre uplift in Utah.