88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E) shares rose on Tuesday as it confirmed it has kicked off drilling at the Charlie-1 appraisal well on Alaska’s North Slope.
The well programme is partnered with Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) which is largely funding the venture that aims to test a potentially significant discovery previously unearthed by BP back in the 1990's.
Malguk-1 was the original discovery well, with oil shows over multiple horizons, though it was not tested at the time due to complications at the end of the programme.
READ: 88 Energy raises A$5mln ahead of Charlie well programme
The Charlie well aims to intersect up to seven stacked prospects, which are together estimated to host some 1.6bn barrels of prospective resources.
Premier is covering the well costs up to US$23mln, via a farm-out agreement.
"The Charlie-1 well has been four years in the making for 88 Energy, beginning in 2016 when we first acquired 2D seismic over our project Icewine acreage,” said Dave Wall, 88 Energy's managing director.
“Since that time, the company has reprocessed legacy 2D seismic (2017), undertaken a targeted acreage expansion and then shot modern 3D seismic before farming down. A prospect of this calibre in a frontier region requires significant time and effort to come to fruition and we are optimistic that success is just around the corner," he added.
Subject to results, it is anticipated that the Charlie-1 well may be tested in April.
Could be transformational
In a note to clients, analysts at SPAngel commented: “Success at Charlie-1 could be transformational for 88 Energy and marks the company’s first well on its Project Icewine acreage.
“Since acquisition, the Company has reprocessed legacy 2D seismic (2017), undertaken a targeted acreage expansion and then shot modern 3D seismic (2018) before farming down (2019). As such, this exploration well represents a key area of sector focus in 2020.”
In morning trading, 88 Energy shares were 12.5% higher at 1.12p.
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