9th Oct 2014 07:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - Zoltav Resources Inc saw its shares rise early Thursday after it said work had progressed ahead of schedule on bringing its Zhdanovskoye field into production through the Western Gas Plant, largely because it got a temporary permit from the Russian safety regulator.
The oil and gas explorer and producer bought the Bortovoy Licence in Russia in June 2014 and has been focusing on restoring the Western Gas Plant to its full average daily production capacity of 48.4 million cubic feet of gas per day. It planned to do this by boosting production on the currently producing Karpenskoye field with a series of workover operations and by drilling of an infill well, and by hooking-up the Zhdanovskoye field to the Western Gas Plant.
In a statement, it said Well 102 and Well 8 started commercial gas production on the Zhdanovskoye field on October 8, adding an additional 8.8 million cubic feet of gas per day of stabilized production. A third well on the Zhdanovskoye field, Well 30, is forecast to come on stream later this month, contributing further to production volumes.
Zoltav said the earlier-than-expected start from the field was mainly down to the fact that the Russian safety regulator issued a temporary permit allowing production to commence while the full permit is pending. It said it still expects to get the full permit before the end of the year, as originally planned.
Well 102 was drilled in 2008 and Wells 8 and 30 were drilled during the 1970s, but they had not previously been put into production. The three well Zhdanovskoye hook-up project was commissioned by Zoltav shortly after it assumed managerial responsibility for the Bortovoy Licence.
In addition to bringing the Zhdanovskoye field into production, Zoltav is currently drilling an infill well, Well 100, on the Karpenskoye field which is also expected to come on stream later this month.
"By year-end the company expects to be producing 46.2 million cubic feet of gas per day from the Western Gas Plant. The full plant capacity of 48.4 million cubic feet of gas per day is expected to be achieved during the first quarter of 2015 once work-over operations on two wells on the Karpenskoye field have been completed," the company said in a statement.
Zoltav Resources shares were up 13.8% at 91.00 pence early Thursday, one of the best-performing stock on the AIM All-Share index.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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