A busy week of the oilers with closely followed Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) saying it had drilled down to the first casing point at its latest well on the Tendara licence in Morocco.
TE-8 has so far been sunk to a depth of 461 metres and a 13-3/8 inch casing is being set in cement in the Upper Lias formation. The second casing point is at 2,070 metres.
Work began last Sunday and is likely to take 40-50 days to complete with drilling going down to a vertical depth of 2,975 metres.
Assuming gas is encountered in the main well bore, a further 30-day side-track will be drilled to prove a potentially deeper gas contact 900 metres to the north-west, Sound said.
TE-8 will be around 12 kilometres from the last successful hole and is what’s called a step out well because it will test the lateral extent of gas that has been discovered in the TAGI reservoir.
Another well followed AIM stock Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) said crude from its Shaikan field will have to take a longer road to export because the oil will no longer be accepted at the Kirkuk-Ceyhan export pipeline, in Northern Iraq.
Currently, GKP trucks its crude for delivery into the system at Fishkhabour, but soon the crude trucking operation will have to take it all the way for delivery to market in Turkey.
This new arrangement was described as being part of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG)management of the overall crude export quality.
It comes into effect from the end of February.
GKP told investors that the economic benefit it receives from the KRG will be the same, despite the changes.
Elsewhere, Diversified Gas & Oil plc (LON:DGOC) shares moved higher as the week ended after it announced a production boosting acquisition in the United States.
The recently listed energy group is picking up assets in Ohio and Pennsylvania that will increase group output to 5,400 barrels oil equivalent per day.
The US$1.75mln deal, covered from existing cash resources, adds 1,300 producing wells across some 75,250 acres.
Gas production from these assets amounts to 3.8mln cubic feet per day and 110 barrels of oil, representing an increase to DGO of 14% and 23% respectively.
DGO described the seller as a ‘large US based oil and gas production company’ and highlighted that the acquired assets are complementary to its existing portfolio – they are mature, long life and low-cost.
Meanwhile, Empyrean Energy Plc (LON:EME) told investors that it expects to advance its Chinese exploration project in the coming weeks and months.
The AIM quoted oil and gas firm noted it had received from escrow the final US$2.6mln tranche of cash proceeds from its US asset disposal.
Looking ahead, the company said it is continuing negotiations with both international and domestic contractors for a 3D seismic programme in China, at the conventional Pearl River Mouth Basin project, and it said the talks are progressing well.
The company said it hopes to finalise contracts in the coming weeks, with a view to starting the programme in the second quarter.
It plans to target a 500 square kilometre area with a view to identifying drill locations for two key exploration prospects, Jade and Topaz. A further ten exploration leads that warrant exploration have also been mapped.
Elsewhere, Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company plc (LON:NTOG) told investors this week it has acquired additional production assets, located in the Permian basin, United States.
It is paying just US$60,000 for a package of three assets, including 75% stakes in nine wells and 18 identified potential new well locations.
The company also noted that it has now received US$100,000 from escrow, following the sale of its interest in the Chisholm Trail project.
"We've worked hard over the last 12 months identifying appropriate targets for acquisition in our efforts to rebuild Nostra Terra,” said chief executive Matt Lofgran.
“We now have a robust pipeline of potential opportunities and are poised to continue growing.
“Our acquisition targets range from prospects the size of today's acquisition to significantly larger ones.”
The company also told investors that is has ‘no immediate funding need’, though it shed more light on the reports earlier this week that an equity placing was withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Magnolia Petroleum PLC (LON:MAGP) has announced the appointment of Ron Harwood as interim chairman.
The junior oil and gas company told investors that Thomas Wagenhofer resigned as chairman to concentrate on his other business commitments.
Finally, KrisEnergy Ltd has hired Tan Ek Kia as the company’s new non-executive chairman.
Tan Ek Kia replaces previous chairman Will Honeybourne who is retiring from the board with immediate effect.
Honeybourne in a statement said: “After serving as chairman for seven years from the company's start up, I have decided for personal reasons to step off from the board of directors.”
Tan Ek Kia, meanwhile, said: “Following the successful completion of the financial restructuring in February this year, I fully understand Will’s decision to retire from KrisEnergy as we enter the next phase of the company’s evolution.