88 Energy tumbles on back of disappointing Icewine result

Explorer 88 Energy has seen "no meaningful change" to the composition of gas and fluid returned from production testing at its number-two Icewine well, located on the North Slope of Alaska.

The AIM-listed company told investors on Wednesday that, since its last update, a reduction in the nitrogen injection rate to minimise the impact of a perceived downhole choke had not increased the flowback rate of stimulation fluid or gas.

The Western Australian firm noted that there had been no meaningful change to the composition of the returned gas and fluid and stated that flowback at the site was considered to be gas and 100% low salinity stimulation fluid, which is not considered representative of the content of the reservoir.

88 Energy expects that, if contact with the reservoir is achieved, the salinity of the returned fluid will increase by "an order of magnitude", however, this has not occurred to date.

Hydrocarbon gas content continues to be predominantly methane, with the percentage of hydrocarbon gas in the flowback increasing from 5% to around 11-13% after the nitrogen injection rate was reduced, suggesting that a positive impact on the downhole choke had been made.

88 Energy's managing director, Dave Wall, said, "The HRZ play remains in its infancy and shows great promise; however, we do not know all the answers at this stage."

"We appreciate that investors want clarity and certainty in relation to the results from the Icewine#2 well and the team is working hard to provide these," added Wall.

As of 0830 BST, 88 Energy shares had tumbled 17.65% to 1.40p.