Progress remains solid at 88 Energy's Project Icewine

Oil explorer and developer 88 Energy updated the market on its activities in the quarter ended 30 September on Tuesday, reporting that at Project Icewine, the conventional farm-out was executed with Premier Oil in the period.

The AIM-traded firm said that under the terms of the sale and purchase agreement, Premier would farm-in for a 60% interest in Area A, and would pay the full costs of an appraisal well designated Charlie-1 - up to a total of $23m (£17.78m) - to test the reservoir deliverability of the Malguk-1 discovery.

It added that it would retain a 30% working interest in Area A, with the remaining 10% working interest held by Burgundy Xploration.

“Premier has an option to earn a 50% working interest in Area B or C by spending $15m, if the Charlie-1 well in Area A is successful,” the 88 Energy board explained in its statement.

“88 Energy [will] operate the Charlie-1 well via its wholly-owned Alaskan subsidiary, Accumulate Energy Alaska, with the well to be drilled and tested in the first quarter of 2020 using the already-secured Nordic-Callista Rig-3 and with permitting work on track.”

The board explained that the Charlie-1 well was designed to penetrate the HRZ shale play, and gather additional data.

It also said the application of FIB-SEM was planned on regional well cuttings to firm up its prospective fairway, and confirmed that the Icewine-2 well was formally plugged and abandoned in the quarter.

At the Yukon acreage, 88 Energy said discussions were continuing with nearby resource owners to optimise the monetisation strategy of the acreage.

It said the Yukon lease, bid on by the company in the December 2018 Alaska licensing round, was formally awarded and taken up during the quarter.

On the Western Blocks, Additional regional 3D was purchased during the quarter, with reprocessing and reinterpretation of legacy 3D seismic planned to assess further prospectivity in acreage.

Finally, on the corporate front, the board noted the successful completion of a capital raise of AUD 6.75m (£3.58m) before costs.

As at 1105 BST, shares in 88 Energy were up 2.04% at 0.75p.