Pantheon Resources PLC (AIM:PANR, OTC:PTHRF) is now ready to begin testing the Theta West after progress on Alaska’s North Slope slowed due to weather challenges.
The company, in a statement, meanwhile gave upbeat but incomplete results from the previously drilled Talitha well – which saw its latest test suspended in a blizzard and subsequently found results hampered due to a blockage in the well.
Pantheon nonetheless told investors that based on the available it believes that the zone under testing, the Shelf Margin Deltaic (SMD), “should produce better than the two lower zones already tested”. Those previously tested zones, the Basin Floor Fan (BFF) and Slope Fan System (SFS), were themselves described as having “excellent” results.
Now, the company said that the main priority for the remainder of the winter season is to allow sufficient time to satisfactorily test the BFF at Theta West. Operations are due to begin next week.
“Operating in Arctic conditions can be challenging and have caused operational issues which have impacted the testing of the SMD,” said chief executive Jay Cheatham.
"In this strong oil price environment, many upstream companies operating in the oil and gas sector are facing equipment and logistics challenges with high equipment utilization rates.
“As we are well into the drilling season, we made an easy decision to suspend activity at Talitha to afford sufficient time to undertake thorough testing at the significant Theta West project.”
He added: “Over the coming weeks, we will test what the company believes is a significant oil accumulation after encountering over 950 feet of oil-bearing sections in a large Basin Floor Fan system. Our team have prepared an extensive testing operation."
Cheatham noted that the company’s next Alaska well, the Alkaid appraisal and production well, is scheduled for the summer season.