Three Crown Petroleum says it has a live one in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The privately held operator reported a steady initial flow of 752 barrels of oil equivalent a day from its Irvine 1NH well in Johnson County, a two-mile lateral in the Niobrara that came online October 14 and hasn’t shown early decline, Energy News reports.
With an oil cut around 82%, the well is exactly the kind of crude-heavy result independents want from this corner of the basin.
The company is leaning into a methodical recipe: drill deep, frac often, then let it soak. Irvine 1NH reached roughly 22,500 feet in total depth and was completed with 51 stages spaced about 200 feet apart. After a 45-day post-frac “soaking” period, Three Crown turned the well to sales and, so far, the curve is flat.
That confidence is feeding a bigger 2025–2026 push. Next up are two Niobrara horizontals in Converse County — the Kringen 1NH and Wild Bill 1NH — each planned with 2.5-mile laterals and slated to spud in the fourth quarter of 2025. Behind those wells sits a banked inventory: eleven permits spread across Johnson, Campbell and Converse counties, giving the team room to scale activity basin-wide as services and capital line up.
Three Crown is also opening the door to outside capital and working interests across its Niobrara and Mowry plans, including participation alongside Irvine 1NH and the next wave of locations.
“We are actively seeking reliable partners to participate in our programme,” President H. Howard Cooper said.
Cooper called the Irvine result proof that the company’s technical approach — long laterals, dense stage spacing, and patient flowback — can translate into investable returns.
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