88 Energy posts positive update from Alaska's North Slope

88 Energy updated the market on operations on the North Slope of Alaska, and the ongoing testing programme following the drilling of the Merlin-1 well, on Wednesday, reporting that additional first phase geochemical analysis of fluid extracts from Merlin-1 core samples again demonstrated the presence of hydrocarbons.

The AIM-traded firm said results from the second phase of side-wall core trim analysis were expected in the coming weeks, including quantitative extraction, SARA, isotopes and biomarker analysis.

It said the second phase was designed to confirm not only the presence of oil, but also the nature of the source rock, enhancing understanding of the likely quality of the oil as well as migration pathways.

VAS and gas analysis results were also expected in the coming weeks.

88 Energy said final analysis and results from the Merlin-1 post-well testing programme was expected to be complete by the end of July, with an announcement of the full results summary targeted for early August.

“The Merlin-1 well was spudded in March, and targeted 645 million barrels of gross mean prospective resource,” the board said in its statement.

“Drilling is now complete, and interpretation of results is underway.

“A second well, Harrier-1, is planned to be drilled in 2022 and is targeting gross mean prospective resource of 417 million barrels.”

88 Energy said the Merlin-1 well and the Harrier prospect are located on-trend to an existing discovery, in the same play type of Nanushuk topsets.

“This has de-risked the prospects considerably, and resulted in a relatively high independently estimated geological chance of success.”

At 1525 BST, shares in 88 Energy were up 10.71% at 1.94p.