Elixir Petroleum (AIM, ASX: ELP), the oil and gas exploration and production company, with interests in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico and offshore Sierra Leone, climbed 9% higher this morning after confirming that its production interests in the Gulf of Mexico had not been adversely affected by annual hurricane season. Elixir did report some minor delays to its activities, including the shut-in of its operations at the High Island and Pompano projects, but crucially no infrastructure was damage and production had recommenced quickly. Some damage was sustained to the onshore section of the export pipeline that High Island is sold through, but the damage "is not believed to be severe" and production is expected to re-start "within the next week".
Slight delays to Well 3 on the Pompano Project were also reported, due to the shut-in of the Hercules jack-up rig which has been contracted to drill the well. However the rig is now preparing for drilling. The well is expected to take 25 days to complete, and is targeting an updip fault block immediately adjacent to Well 2.
Elixir's Managing Director, Andrew Ross summarised:
"Other than a short shut-in period during the passage of Hurricane Ike, we are pleased to advise that the storm has not adversely affected our projects in the Gulf of Mexico. We look forward to resumption of full production in the near future.
We are eagerly anticipating the commencement of drilling operations in the coming days for Well #3 at the Pompano Project, where we hope to achieve a similar result to that of our successful Well #2 and a further lift in production rates from the field."