Caspian Sunrise more-than-doubles its production capacity

Kazakhstan-focussed oil and gas explorer and producer Caspian Sunrise reported a more-than-doubling of production capacity on Wednesday, after a recent well workover.

It said in an update that the successful workover of well 142 on the MJF structure, which added a further 1,400 barrels of oil per day to BNG production capacity, was now about 4,000 barrels per day, including the existing South Yelemes wells.

The AIM-traded firm said well 142 was one of the first to be drilled on the MJF structure.

It was drilled to a depth of about 2,500 metres in 2016, and produced steadily over a number of years with periodic conventional workovers.

Using a horizontal drilling approach, the well was re-drilled from a depth of 1,984 metres, with a horizontal spur of 90 metres into the interval.

Caspian Sunrise said it was the latest of a number of existing wells to be re-drilled using a horizontal drilling approach.

Existing MJF shallow wells 141 and 151 would be the next to be re-drilled.

Planning was ongoing for a new horizontal well on the shallow South Yelemes structure, which like the MJF structure, had a full production licence.

The board said the new horizontal well would have a planned total depth of 2,430 metres, and target potential oil-bearing intervals in the Dolomites.

Deep well 802, meanwhile, was planned to be spudded in June.

The well would have a target depth of 5,300 metres, and like the other deep wells drilled at the BNG contract area, would target potential oil-bearing intervals in the Carboniferous and the Devonian.

Deep well 802 was expected to take six months to drill, and would be the final deep well the firm was obliged to drill under the BNG work programme.

The company then planned to return to deep well A5, where it intended to drill a new side track.

On its Urals oil operations, meanwhile, Caspian Sunrise said it was still experiencing a $30 to $35 per barrel discount to Brent for oil sent through the Russian pipeline network.

The Brent crossover price, when the net returns from sales to the international market equate to the net returns for domestic sales, was approximately $90 per barrel.

“Our focus on maximising production from the shallow structures at BNG has resulted in a more-than-doubling of production capacity since the beginning of the year,” said chairman Clive Carver.

“We plan to continue the programme of drilling and re drilling shallow wells using a horizontal drilling approach which we believe should result in reaching a production capacity solely from the shallow structures at the BNG contract area of 5,000 barrels of oil per day before the year end.”

At 1246 BST, shares in Caspian Sunrise were up 50% at 4.35p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.