Jersey Oil & Gas Plc (LON:JOG) has confirmed that the Verbier exploration well will go ahead this summer, after project operator Statoil signed up the Transocean Spitsbergen rig.
Statoil has contracted Spitsbergen for a programme of three wells, including Verbier.
Jersey owns a 18% interest in Verbier and through a farm-out deal with Statoil its share of the well’s drilling costs, up to US$25mln, are covered by Statoil and the AIM quoted company also benefits from a partnership deal with CIECO Exploration and Production.
Andrew Benitz, Jersey chief executive, in a statement said: “We are very pleased to announce that Statoil has contracted the rig, Transocean Spitsbergen, to drill the Verbier prospect in summer of this year.
“Confirmation of this contract is the culmination of a great deal of technical work by the Joint Venture partnership and we are grateful for the support received from our shareholders during this time."
Last week the Verbier prize was upgraded, with consultant ERCE Equipoise estimating that the undrilled prospect is host to 162mln barrels oil equivalent resources. Perhaps significantly, the chance of success for the upcoming well was also upgraded - to 29% from 26%.
The follow-on Cortina prospect, meanwhile, was also upgraded to 124mln barrels from 91mln and the chance of success was set at 19%.