Pantheon Resources PLC (AIM:PANR, OTCQX:PTHRF) told investors it has paused testing operations at its Dubhe-1 well, in the Aphun project area, on Alaska’s North Slope.
The decision follows nearly two months of flowback activity, during which 100,000 barrels of water, 20 million cubic feet of gas and 100 barrels of oil were produced. Approximately half of the injected stimulation fluids have been recovered.
The company said it will complete pressure build-up tests and additional diagnostics before resuming operations in the spring.
While mobile hydrocarbons were confirmed, low oil volumes and winter operational costs prompted the pause. Daily flowback costs during winter were reported at approximately $150,000.
“Dubhe-1 has still recovered only ~50% of the stimulation fluids so far and based on analogs above we believe further cleanup is required before we can determine the commerciality of the well,” Pantheon stated.
It added: "we remain confident in the value inherent to our asset base, representing one of the largest undeveloped oil resources on the Alaskan North Slope."
Pantheon noted that it retains US$27.2 million of cash and equivalents, and it will continue to manage its liquidity position prudently.
The firm added that moving forward, it intends to prioritise the financing of forward capital programmes by farming out to investment partner(s) to limit share dilution and add financial resources to ite expansive asset portfolio.
Operationally, it intends to resharpen focus on the Kodiak project area, which is estimate to host to some 1.2 billion barrels of marketable liquids and 5.4 trillion cubic feet of gas.
"We are renewing focus on our Kodiak field, with a parallel analysis and appraisal programme developed to accelerate progress - all being done concurrent with additional testing and analysis of our data from Ahpun ... we look forward to sharing future updates in the coming year as we strive to create value for our shareholders, employees, and communities."