Torchlight

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Oil play takes another step forward

By Robert Gray, Staff Writer for El Paso Inc | Monday, October 5, 2015 10:07 am

A new oil development just east of El Paso, where Plano-based Torchlight Energy is exploring for oil in Hudspeth County, has moved a step closer to full-scale production.

Founders Oil and Gas, a company based in Midland, Texas, announced last week it has partnered with Torchlight Energy (Nasdaq: TRCH) and will invest $50 million into the development of the shale-oil play over the next two years.

"It is an exciting play, and the initial data from the first well drilled appear to be very promising. Enough so that we felt we could commit the funds needed to fully explore the opportunity," Founders Oil president Brian M. Sirgo told El Paso Inc. in an email interview.

Founders Oil is a subsidiary of a larger, publicly traded company that was not officially disclosed in the announcement. But it's thought to be D.R. Horton, one of the nation's largest single-family homebuilders.

The venture is speculative, but if Torchlight Energy finds what it believes to be lying under the surface, it could bring the shale-oil boom within 40 miles of Downtown El Paso.

"Although the project could be considered 'frontier' in nature, we have had experience with these types of plays in the past," Sirgo said.

"The challenges of no current infrastructure, readily available services, and access to markets for products, while tough at the outset of the project, we feel can be overcome," he added.