Advance Energy confirms start of drilling at Buffalo-10

Advance Energy announced on Friday that the Valaris JU-107 jack-up drilling rig had started operations at the Buffalo-10 well location, offshore Timor-Leste.

The AIM-traded firm said the operator, Carnarvon Petroleum Timor, advised that the drilling rig successfully concluded the ready-to-operate process, and had drilled the surface hole and installed the surface casing.

It said the well was currently drilling ahead in the 17-and-a-half-inch hole section, at a depth of about 120 metres.

The rig would drill the hole to the planned section depth of around 800 metres, followed by the setting of the 13-and-three-eighths-inch casing.

Advance said the 12-and-a-quarter-inch hole section would then be drilled to around 2,800 metres, before setting the nine-and-five-eighths-inch casing.

No hydrocarbons were expected to be intersected in these first two sections of the well.

The company said the Buffalo-10 well was being drilled offshore Timor-Leste within the TL-SO T19-14 production sharing contract, in a water depth of about 30 metres, with a target depth of 3,500 metres.

Advance Energy said the well was being drilled to test for the presence of commercial quantities of high-quality light oil that was expected to lead to the early re-development of the Buffalo field.

“We are delighted to hear this progress from the operator as we hit another operational milestone,” said chief executive officer Leslie Peterkin.

“The joint venture is working hard to conclude the drilling programme in the coming weeks and remains confident that the Buffalo-10 well will be a geological and economic success.

“We look forward to providing further updates in due course.”

At 1110 GMT, shares in Advance Energy were down 1.47% at 4.19p.