Block Energy Plc (LON:BLOE) revealed that the West Rustavi 16a legacy well has flowed 200 barrels of oil over a ten-hour test. The company added that a further 300 barrels of oil were recovered in further tests over subsequent days.
It confirms the well lies in an active hydrocarbon system, the reservoir still contains reserves, and it remains pressurised.
Operations at West Rustavi form part of the group’s efforts to establish production of 650 barrels of oil per day in the first quarter of 2019. It also includes a two-well sidetrack drilling programme, which kicks off with a sidetrack from Rustavi 16a.
Elsewhere, at the Norio field, the company aims to hit a 250 bopd target through well workovers and sidetracks.
Highlands Natural Resources PLC (LON:HNR)
HNR is looking forward to a happy New Year with a number of new wells due online over the coming weeks. It follows a busy and successful work programme at the East Denver project in Colorado this year.
"The development agreement concluded for our East Denver project has been the defining point of 2018,” chief executive Robert Price said in the company’s interim results statement.
Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO)
Solo agreed to sell its 30% in UK licence PEDL331, located on the Isle of Wight, which hosts the undeveloped Arreton oil discovery. UK Oil & Gas will pay £350,000 to acquire the stake, to take its overall ownership of the project to 95%.
The consideration will comprise £90,450 of cash and the remainder will be made up of UKOG shares, some 17.98mln shares, priced at 1.4428p (the average market price over a five day period ended 10 December).
Solo had considered the asset to be non-core, and, it follows a prior deal earlier this year which saw it sell its interest in the Horse Hill oil project to UKOG.
Echo Energy Plc (LON:ECHO)
Echo has mobilised equipment that will allow it to acquire 1,200 square kilometres of three-dimensional seismic data on the Tapi Aike exploration acreage in Neuquén province, Argentina.
The seismic programme will last four months and will commence once all the equipment has arrived on site and parameter testing is completed early in 2019.
Chief executive Fiona Macaulay is to step up into a non-executive role and that Martin Hull, Echo’s chief financial officer has been appointed managing director.
"It has been a huge pleasure to work with Fiona in these early stages of Echo's development and I would like to thank her for her significant contribution in securing our Argentinian portfolio, drilling four wells, completing various workovers and in strengthening and deepening the executive team,” said chairman James Parsons.
Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU)
Sound kicked off the drilling of the TE-10 well at the Tendrara project in eastern Morocco. It is the second of a planned three well exploration programme at Tendrara, and, it is located around 25 kilometres away from Tendrara’s currently anticipated production area.
The drilling programme is expected to run for 30 to 40 days, with the well drilled down to a depth of 2,200 metres.
TE-10 is targeting a material TAGI stratigraphic trap and a smaller TAGI structural closure, Sound told investors. It is part of a play with estimated volumes of 2.7 Tcf mid case gross gas originally in place (GOIP) – 4.5 Tcf GOIP gross upside case and a 1.5 Tcf GOIP gross low case.
Diversified Gas & Oil PLC (LON:DGOC)
DGOC confirmed that a major shareholder has divested a substantial portion of its 5.51% stake in the company via a share placing. The group said Trive Capital, and its associated entities have sold 22.5mln DGOC shares at a price of 114p for a gross placing consideration of £25.65mln.
It noted that the shareholder will retain 7.37mln DGOC shares, with the initial placing announcement on Wednesday afternoon. The group said as many as 29.9mln shares could have been sold in the placing.
The company said the ordinary shares that the seller continues to hold are subject to the original lock-in agreements, agreed on 10 October 2018, as part of its Core Appalachia acquisition.
Chariot Oil & Gas Limited (LON:CHAR)
Chariot conducted a thorough analysis of drilling cost estimates for its key prospects.
In a statement issued ahead of the year-end, the company conceded it had been a disappointing year in which the two wells it drilled were duds but thanks to partnering arrangements and the low-cost nature of the drilling off the coast of Namibia, the costs of the failures were not too onerous.
"Clearly it has been very disappointing not to have delivered a transformational discovery from the two deep-water wells that we have participated in this year; however, one of these wells was delivered at zero-cost, and the other was drilled significantly under-budget for what is likely to become a new benchmark for the sector,” said Larry Bottomley, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Chariot.
“In Namibia, Chariot also demonstrated it is capable of safely and efficiently operating a deep-water well, delivering the operation within a short time-frame to capture the optimum point of the cost cycle,” he added.
Mosman Oil And Gas Limited (LON:MSMN)
Mosman said it has increased its working interest in the Stanley-2 well in Texas US ahead of the start of drilling, which is set to begin later this month.
The group has raised its interest in the well to 18.5% from 16.5%.
Stanley-2 is the next well to be drilled as part of a strategic alliance with Baja Oil & Gas and is the second recent well to be drilled at the Livingston Oilfield Polk County. The first well to be drilled was the nearby Stanley-1, which started in July.
Aminex Plc (LON:AEX)
Aminex has confirmed the successful completion of remedial work for the Kiliwani North-1 production well in Tanzania. The company, in a statement, revealed that the work had now addressed the previously reported problem with the well’s sub-surface safety valve.
It has also now gathered associated pressure and fluid data.
“During this process, gas was observed at the surface. The well is undergoing further testing and analysis,” Aminex added, in its stock market statement.