Westmount Energy confirms start of drilling at Sapote-1

Westmount Energy said on Thursday that the Guyana Maritime Administration Department has confirmed that the Stena DrillMAX drillship would start drilling operations at the Sapote-1 wellsite on the Canje Block, offshore Guyana, on 28 August.

The AIM-traded firm holds an indirect interest in the Canje Block as a result of its 7.2% interest in JHI Associates.

It said the Canje Block is currently operated by an ExxonMobil subsidiary, Esso Exploration & Production Guyana with a 35% holding, with TotalEnergies E&P Guyana holding 35%, JHI Associates BVI holding 17.5%, and Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas holding 12.5%.

“Sapote-1 is located in the southeast of the Canje Block, approximately 60 kilometres north of the Campanian and Santonian Maka Central-1 stacked pay discovery, in a new depositional setting linked to the Berbice canyon system,” the Westmount board explained in its statement.

“Sapote-1 is an independent multi-layer prospect, which will evaluate several Upper Cretaceous targets, and is potentially the largest prospect drilled on the Canje block to date.”

It said drilling of Sapote-1 was expected to take 60 days, with results anticipated in late October.

“Following a 2018 farm-out to Total and subsequent transactions, JHI is funded for the 2021 Canje drilling campaign, including the Sapote-1 well, and multiple additional wells.”

At 1129 BST, shares in Westmount Energy were down 2.08% at 9.4p.