Pantheon Resources PLC (AIM:PANR, OTC:PTHRF) chief executive Jay Cheatham described a period “of great achievement” as the Alaska oil explorer reported its interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2022.
It comes after the company confirmed the Alkaid discovery, with the completion of drilling and production testing the Alkaid-2 well which displayed better-than-expected reservoir deliverability (whilst encountering some operational challenges).
The Alkaid results are described as “very positive for future development” and Pantheon noted that future wells on the discovery will be positioned slightly deeper to avoid repeating ‘gas cap’ problems.
Significantly, during the reporting period, a third-party review of Pantheon’s assets conducted by SLB (formerly known as Schlumberger) estimated some 17.8mln barrels of oil in place – underlining the very significant potential upside to Pantheon’s projects on Alaska’s north slope.
Meanwhile, another industry report conducted by Wood MacKenzie called Theta West (Pantheon’s other recent Alaska discovery) "the fourth largest discovery well globally in 2022".
The Theta West discovery will be followed up with further drilling and testing, before Pantheon makes a judgement on the asset’s commercial merits.
Cheatham, in his comments today, highlighted that Theta West was the only onshore well in the ‘top four’ discoveries ranked by Wood Mackenzie and added: “We should all be very proud of these achievements.
“As I stated last year, which I repeat again, Pantheon's projects have the potential to be a nationally significant oil resource in a safe jurisdiction onshore USA.”
Regarding Pantheon’s market value, meanwhile, Cheatham said: "We do understand that Pantheon's share price has suffered, as a result of a number of factors including the results at Alkaid which represents less than 4% of our resource, social media mistruths, a lower oil price, and rising interest rates.
“I reiterate again to shareholders that we see great potential in the Alkaid project.
“We know the flow test result was impacted because our fracks intercepted a gas cap.
“We will adjust for this in future wells by positioning them a little deeper and would expect to see significant improvement.
“Alkaid #2 was designed as a test well to gain data to optimise future wells.
“This is industry standard practice - at Prudhoe Bay, America's largest oilfield and only 20 miles north of us, the initial wells were dry holes!
“Alkaid was anything but a dry hole; far from it, our modelling points to Alkaid being a potential commercial development,” he said.
The pre-revenue exploration company reported a US$1.6mln loss for the half year including higher spend on operational activity.
It ended December with US$16.3mln of cash and as of 30 March retained US$10.8mln.