88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E) continues to look forward to a potential farm-out deal for its Project Icewine conventional project area in Alaska.
In a quarterly update, the explorer said it expects that the deal is targeted in the second quarter.
“The farm-out process has now progressed to the next stage, with a preferred bidder selected and discussions underway,” the company said.
WATCH: 88 Energy's chief talks Icewine farm-out
It would potentially tee up an ‘exploration/appraisal’ well next year, the company told investors.
In the meantime, the company also intends to advance its shale portfolio. It noted that evaluation work continued in the past quarter, following the two prior HRZ shale wells, and, it is planning to launch a separate farm-out process during the current year.
88 Energy also provided a debrief of the Winx exploration well which failed to find commercial hydrocarbons, though it was completed on time, without incident, and slightly under budget.
It noted that the processing of 3D seismic data for the Yukon project area is now complete, and currently a resource estimation process is underway.