Miller Energy Resources Inc. (NYSE: MILL) drilled and completed the CPP-H-1 well, its first successful horizontal well in the Mississippian Age Fort Payne formation.

Miller Energy tested water free oil production from the company's CPP-H-1 well on Jan. 12. The well tested at a restricted rate of 487 barrels of oil equivalent per day on three fourths of an inch 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 barrels of oil per day and 730 million cubic feet of gas per day.

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 barrels of oil equivalent per day 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.

Miller Energy Resources Inc. is an oil and natural gas exploration, production and drilling company based in Huntsville, Tenn., operating in multiple E&P basins in North America.