88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E) has suggested that there is still life in the Charlie well yet as it provided a technical update on its view of the exploration disappointment following the departure of former partner Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO).
In an operations update, the AIM and ASX-listed explorer – which is in the process of rebooting via a merger with Alaska peer XCD Energy – among other details highlighted what it called “compelling” indications of oil in an up-dip location from the Charlie well location.
Moreover, it commented that it had originally planned to drill the Charlie well somewhere else before Premier Oil joined the exploration campaign.
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An image of a map, included in the statement, pictures a Charlie well in an entirely different setting in an area now described as being “more oil prone”.
Charlie-1 encountered a large condensate discovery and its primary oil target was found to be poorly developed in that location. Samples were taken from secondary target reservoirs.
88 Energy’s new statement included analysis of samples taken from the Charlie well with hydrocarbons confirmed to be of a gravity of 49 to 52 degree API – described as being around the typical crossover between volatile oil and condensate.
Such reservoirs would typically require some form of injection in order to maintain flows, it noted.
Further analysis results are now awaited and are anticipated in the coming weeks.
The explorer said its originally preferred drilling location is in a “more optimal thermal maturity window for generation of oil”, provides a “more ideal intersection of targets in the Seabee formation where oil was observed” in previous wells, and has “better continuity of reservoir and improved reservoir quality”.
It detailed that its preferred location would have allowed a single well to appraise six separate prospective objectives in the Torok and Seabee sandstones.