16th Oct 2015 07:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd Friday said the Humpback exploration well offshore its namesake country has encountered oil and gas shows with wireline logging suggesting there are hydrocarbon bearing sandstones within the main target area.
However, the well is behind schedule, which has pushed up the costs of the well, but Falkland and its partner have decided to drill deeper down to try and find additional targets.
Falkland said the exploration well has been drilled to 4,718 metres and said it recorded oil and gas shows whilst drilling through the main target horizon. The immediate wireline logging also indicate the "possible presence" of hydrocarbon bearing sandstones.
In addition, the company said the well has been drilled deep enough to evaluate additional targets. Noble will drill Humpback even deeper to source new targets.
Falkland Oil is currently carried on all of its costs in the current drilling programme by its partner Noble Energy, which is earning a 32.5% stake in "the deeper targets" in return.
However, Falkland said drilling the Humpback has been "slower than anticipated", pushing up costs, because it had to side track the well at 4,360 metres for mechanical reasons.
"Once the well has reached total depth a further set of wireline logs will be run. Subject to operational constraints, this will include a formation test tool which may be able to establish a pressure gradient within the sands and also recover a sample of formation fluid to surface for definitive analysis. A further announcement will be made once total depth has been reached and this is expected to be by the end of October 2015," it said in a statement.
Falkland Oil shares were down 10% to 21.0 pence per share on Friday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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