An English company, Nighthawk Energy, has begun an aggressive drilling program in western Missouri after it found “promising” amounts of oil in four test wells. In a regulatory announcement, Nighthawk says that it and a partner control 7,000 acres in Vernon and Bates counties, which are on the Kansas border. The company already has drilled 16 production wells and plans many more:

All of the wells drilled encountered hydrocarbons, have been cased and are awaiting completion. As a result of this success, permit applications have been made for a further 30 wells which will be added to the development programme. The wells are being drilled on a 10 acre spacing therefore the current land base provides over 700 potential well sites.

As mentioned in a previous post, MegaWest Energy of Canada also is drilling for oil in the sandstone under Vernon County. I don’t know which company is ahead in the drilling race, but Nighthawk’s shares have been by far the better investment. They have more than doubled in the past year, while MegaWest’s shares have fallen 71 percent.

If you’re interested in where else there might be oil under Missouri, check out the “Missouri’s Black Gold” article in the state-published Missouri Resources magazine.