Stacked pay zones are separate oil- or gas-bearing intervals lying vertically above one another beneath the same surface acreage. Each interval, often called a bench, may support its own horizontal wells. An operator with rights to several benches can develop one now and return later to another a few hundred feet higher or lower in the geologic section.
Kolibri Global Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: KGEI, TSX: KEI) holds such a stack at its Tishomingo Field in south-central Oklahoma, within the formation rights it retained when it sold the deeper Woodford Shale in 2013. Four principal intervals lie in succession: the False Caney, Caney, T Zone and Sycamore. The Caney itself divides into an Upper Caney and a Lower Caney, and Kolibri’s drilling to date has concentrated in the Lower Caney. The company added the Upper Caney to its target list in June 2026 and is evaluating whether the interval will support wells of its own alongside continued Lower Caney development. All reserves in Kolibri’s current report are attributed to the Caney. The surrounding benches are potential future inventory that must be established through drilling and independent reserve evaluation.
Why a Vertical Stack Changes What an Acreage Position Can Support
An operator largely pays acreage costs once, including the lease, title work, permits, surface agreements, roads, pads and gathering lines. A second producing interval can draw on much of that groundwork. Each bench requires its own well and completion. Existing infrastructure and subsurface knowledge can make it more efficient to evaluate.
Stacking also changes drilling inventory. A block that supports a fixed number of locations in one formation may support more at a similar density in another. Potential targets can grow within the same surface acreage. Their value depends on well performance, reservoir separation and booked reserves.
The Intervals Kolibri Holds at Tishomingo
Kolibri has learned about the wider stack while drilling the Caney and its previous Woodford zone wells, which were deeper. Those wells pass through higher intervals, providing core, logs and petrophysical data before the company commits a dedicated horizontal well to a new bench:
A whole core through the False Caney was highly oil-saturated, and logs from numerous wells show excellent characteristics across the interval. The Upper Caney is present over the entire acreage block, has been successfully tested in one well and has been penetrated by partial laterals in several others. These observations support further testing; dedicated wells are needed to establish commercial performance.
How a Frac Barrier Shapes Multi-Bench Development
A frac barrier is rock between two target benches that limits the vertical growth of a hydraulic fracture. An effective barrier keeps a completion inside its intended bench, allowing adjacent intervals to be developed as distinct reservoirs with separate wells, completion designs and reserves.
At Tishomingo, the False Caney lies above the Caney, separated by a higher-clay shale that Kolibri expects to act as a frac barrier. The first False Caney well can help assess that separation and the bench’s productivity, both of which influence multi-bench design.
Where the Booked Inventory Sits Today
The reserve report prepared by Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2025 attributes reserves to the Caney alone. At six wells per section, it books 89 gross additional Caney locations: 48 proved, 24 probable and 17 possible, mainly for 1.5-mile and two-mile laterals.
A logged, cored or tested bench remains unbooked until wells demonstrate commercial production and an independent evaluator attributes reserves. Stacked pay broadens the geological opportunity beneath Tishomingo, and evidence of commercial performance supports expansion of the reserve base.
The First Test of the Broader Strategy
Kolibri outlined a broader approach on June 29, 2026, adding the False Caney, Upper Caney, T Zone and Sycamore as targets alongside continued Lower Caney development using modified completions. The strategy also added a 2026 well to test the False Caney: the Lovina 5-8-1HF is a two-mile lateral targeting the False Caney.
At the time of the update, Kolibri scheduled it behind three Clifton Mack Caney wells then being drilled, with completion planned for the third quarter of 2026. The company forecast average 2026 production of 4,700 to 5,200 BOEPD and Adjusted EBITDA of US$56 million to US$62 million at an assumed US$70 WTI price.
Why Stacked Pay Is Important to Kolibri
Kolibri operates nearly every well it drills across approximately 17,700 net acres at Tishomingo, with more than 99% of that acreage held by production. It can choose when to drill and which interval to target, applying its Caney drilling and completion experience to a new bench.
The Lovina 5-8-1HF is the first dedicated False Caney test. Its production and evidence about reservoir separation will shape Kolibri’s assessment of that bench; the Upper Caney, T Zone and Sycamore will require their own evidence.
Whether those intervals add materially to development inventory will be settled one bench at a time. They are Kolibri’s nearest source of potential additional new locations that are not reflected in its current reserve report, beneath ground it already holds, operates and has spent more than a decade mapping.
Sources and disclosures: Kolibri Global Energy July 2026 investor presentation (bench pay thickness, development status, net acreage by interval, False Caney core and log characteristics, frac barrier description, Upper Caney and Sycamore status, acreage, well count and reserve-location detail); Kolibri Global Energy press release dated June 29, 2026 (updated strategy targeting additional benches, the added 2026 False Caney test well, Clifton Mack status, the Lovina 5-8-1HF and the revised 2026 forecast); Form 51-101F1 Statement of Reserves Data for the year ended December 31, 2025, dated March 17, 2026, prepared by Netherland, Sewell & Associates, Inc. (reserve-location counts and attribution of reserves to the Caney formation). Benches other than the Caney have no reserves attributed to them in the current reserve report. Production and Adjusted EBITDA figures for 2026 are company forecasts and are subject to change. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure.