Petro River Oil Corp. (OTC: PTRC) detailed an update on a proposed drilling program in the Pearsonia West concession in Oklahoma, the company said April 2. That is the company’s core asset.

The Mississippi Lime-area concession is in the Greater Dog Creek-Pearsonia-Blackland-Foraker trend, near the Burbank Oil Field and other fields. Burbank has produced more than 600 million barrels (MMbbl) of oil to date, and five other fields, with an average of 60 vertical wells, cumulatively produce 19.2 MMbbl of oil, and about 7.35 billion cubic feet of natural gas. They average 71,100 bbl of oil per well.

Several structural closures in Pearsonia West were identified through 3-D seismic surveys. The closures range from 160 acres to more than 1,000 acres, suitable for vertical development. Petro River acquired its controlling interest in Pearsonia West in 2014 through an investment in Bandolier Energy, the company added. Bandolier’s success in the Midcontinent with horizontal drilling makes it confident that subsurface resources can be extracted vertically, said Shane Matson, president of Bandolier.

Pearsonia West spans about 106,000 acres. Osage County has 20 producing Paleozoic horizons, Matson added.

The Pearsonia reservoirs are shallow, and vertical wells cost about 10% less than horizontal. The wellbores have stacked potential. Petro River seeks development partners to begin a pilot vertical drilling program, subject to approvals. The drilling program’s estimated cost ranges between $275,000 and $300,000, Petro River said.

Petro River and Bandolier’s management and advisory team have collectively drilled more than 200 wells in the Midcontinent, and have 85 years’ experience drilling Mississippi Lime wells.

Petro River also detailed updates on other activities. The company is evaluating an exploration project in Northern Ireland’s Larne Basin. It might drill an exploratory well in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter of this year. Larne is one of the U.K.’s last unexplored basins.

The company also said that it increased its focus on technology solutions subsidiary Petro Spring LLC.

Petro River Oil Corp. is based in New York.