Junex Inc. (Toronto Venture: JNX) has received a drilling permit from the Quebec government for the drilling of Junex's first horizontal well on its Galt Oil Property, that is situated in a sparsely populated region approximately 20 kilometers from the town of Gaspé in eastern Quebec.

The Junex Galt No. 4 Horizontal well, the first of a series of horizontal wells planned for the next phase of the project, will be drilled by Junex's Foragaz No. 3 drilling rig from the existing Junex Galt No. 4 vertical wellbore towards the Galt No. 3 well in the Forillon Formation. The Junex Galt No. 4 vertical well drilled in 2012, that will serve as the vertical pilot hole portion for this horizontal wellbore, encountered a 241 meter-thick fractured, oil saturated carbonate sequence in the Forillon Formation.

Based on a number of in-depth studies performed by Junex and independent experts over the past two years, the Junex Galt No. 4 Horizontal wellbore trajectory is designed to optimally intersect the maximum number of open, near-vertical, natural fractures in the Forillon. ''Having invested a great deal of effort on this project since our company was founded, we are now proceeding to the next phase of horizontal drilling with the goal of further confirming the project's potential and the hope of ultimately commencing commercial oil production." said Peter Dorrins, Junex's president & CEO.

"We view our Galt Oil Property as being the most advanced oil project in Quebec in terms of geological and engineering knowledge, delineation of the structure, number of wells drilled and resource potential. Based on publicly disseminated information, our project contains the largest Discovered Contingent Oil Resource potential and Undiscovered Prospective Oil Resource potential established so far on the Gaspé Peninsula by independent evaluators," continued Dorrins.

With this drilling permit in-hand, Junex is proceeding with the contracting of other specialized services and equipment as well as the acquisition of materials that are required for this horizontal well. The company forecasts starting drilling operations in the late summer or early autumn.

Subject to appropriate financing, this next phase of operations on the Galt Oil Property is planned to consist of:

  • The drilling of the Galt 4 Horizontal well (drilling permit obtained);
  • The drilling of the Galt 5 Horizontal well (drilling permit request submitted);
  • The acquisition of 3D seismic data, and;
  • The drilling of the Galt 6 & 7 Horizontal wells whose locations will be chosen based on 3D seismic data and results of the Galt 4 and 5 horizontal wells.

Junex holds a 69.6 % interest in the Galt Oil Property and 100% interest in the adjacent acreage. The adjacent 100% Junex acreage has not yet been independently evaluated for its resource potential.

Netherland Sewell & Associates Inc., a firm of worldwide petroleum consultants based in Texas, has previously established their best estimate of the total oil-initially-in-place resources for the Forillon and Indian Point formations on Junex's Galt Oil Property at 330 million barrels that includes discovered contingent OIIP volumes of 36 million barrels and Undiscovered Prospective OIIP volumes of 294 million barrels.