Zephyr Energy Plc (LON:ZPHR) told investors that a portion of its acreage in Utah’s Paradox basin has been selected for assessment in a US Department of Energy backed study.
The study, entitled “Improving Production in Utah's Emerging Northern Paradox Unconventional Oil Play", will be conducted by the University of Utah's Energy & Geoscience Institute (EGI) and the Utah Geological Survey (UGS).
As part of the study, the EGI and UGS plan to drill a vertical stratigraphic test well to gather data to improve the understanding of the Paradox Basin play.
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This well will be drilled within Zephyr-leased acreage, subject to the negotiation of final funding terms and permitting. The well will be funded via DOE grant and is slated before the end of 2020.
Zephyr pointed out that its acreage was selected for a number of reasons though the quality of Zephyr's underlying 3D seismic data was a factor. It will provide the company with valuable new well data, which will potentially boost the company’s ongoing partnering and funding efforts.
"I'm delighted by this development which should see the first well spudded on the company's Paradox acreage before the end of this calendar year,” Colin Harrington, Zephyr chief executive said in a statement.
"The spudding of this test well will be a significant milestone for Zephyr, and the data gained will be of fundamental importance as we move forward with farm-in discussions for our Paradox project.”
He added: “I would like to thank the DOE, EGI, and UGS for all their efforts to date - we are excited to be partnering and working alongside such respected organisations on this project.”