Caspian Sunrise makes progress at BNG Contract Area

Caspian Sunrise updated the market on operations from its flagship BNG Contract Area on Wednesday, reporting that at well A5 - part of the ‘deep wells’ - the drilling phase had been completed without incident, and Baker Hughes had been contracted to undertake the cementing work.

The AIM-traded firm said the side-track, which began from a depth of 3,976 metres, had reached a total depth of 4,404 meters.

It said “abundant hydrocarbon shows” were observed while drilling, consistent with the shows observed in the previous side-track, which had a successful short-term flow test.

Wireline logging had just been completed, and the evaluation of reservoir properties and fluids was ongoing.

Caspian Sunrise said pressure in the well remained high and stable.

“Baker Hughes has been contracted to commence cementing work,” the board confirmed.

“If this and the subsequent perforation work are successful, our intention would be to commence a 90 day flow test without delay.”

Upon completion of the work at A5, the rig would move to assist in the drilling of shallow wells on the MJF structure.

At well A8, the company said the extensive use of powerful coil tubing equipment had been followed by two separate acid treatments.

A mixture of oil, gas, water and drilling mud flowed to the surface, and the pressure in the well had remained strong throughout the process.

“Our intention is now to close the well for a short period to confirm the pressure measurements before deciding how to proceed.”

On deep wells 801 and A6, the board said that once work at A8 was complete, the firm would seek to apply the same techniques on those two wells.

At the ‘shallow wells’, Caspian Sunrise said it was now expecting to spud the first of the 18 infill wells at the MJF structure in December.

“Despite this delayed start we are still working to complete the full 18 well exercise by the end of 2020.”

At 1621 GMT, shares in Caspian Sunrise were down 4.3% at 8.9p.