88 Energy begins ice road construction to Winx-1 well

88 Energy updated the market on its oil and gas operations on the North Slope of Alaska on Monday, reporting that ice road construction for the Winx-1 exploration well had now commenced.

The AIM-traded firm said the permit-to-drill for Winx-1 had also been submitted, with spud scheduled for mid-to-late February.

It explained that construction of the 11 mile ice road to the Winx-1 exploration well location started on 2 January, as planned.

“The ice road will take approximately three weeks to complete, ahead of construction of the ice pad upon which Nordic Rig#3 will be located for the drilling of Winx-1,” the board said in its statement.

It also confirmed that the permit-to-drill for Winx-1 was submitted to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) on schedule, prior to the end of calendar year 2018.

“All logistics and permitting remains on schedule for a mid-late February spud date.

“Additional details related to the drilling and testing program will be released in due course.”

88 Energy said Winx-1 as located around four miles east of the Horseshoe-1/1A well, which “significantly extended” the successful Nanushuk play fairway to the south.

“Winx-1 will target gross best estimate prospective resource of 400 million barrels of oil - 144 million barrels net to 88 Energy - across multiple stacked objectives, including the Nanushuk, which is the primary target of the well.”