Predator Oil & Gas Holdings PLC (LSE:PRD) nosedived 36% to 5.2p after drilling was halted in onshore Morocco due to “extremely sticky clays”.
The Jersey-based oil and gas company said the wireline logging tools were not able to log deeper than 1,010 metres.
"MOU-2 has been an extremely challenging well to drill due to the presence of a particular geological formation not previously encountered,” said executive chairman Paul Griffiths.
“The prudent and safer option was to suspend the well and leave it in a state to re-enter once a better understanding of the mud programme required to drill this particularly complex interval efficiently and cost-effectively.”
Looking ahead, the AIM-listed company said a re-evaluation of the drilling programme is needed, but until that takes place, the pre-drill objectives remain unchanged.