InfraStrata, Baron Oil to plug, abandon Woodburn Forest-1 well

Shares in InfraStrata and Baron Oil fell more than 20% after they confirmed the Woodburn Forest-1 well in Northern Ireland would be plugged and abandoned.

The well, in County Antrim, was drilled to a depth of 2,000 metres and encountered two conventional sandstone reservoir intervals, the Triassic Sherwood and the Lower Permian Sandstones.

Wireline log analysis had calculated porosities of more than 20% in the upper parts of both the Sherwood and the Lower Permian Sandstones, but both targets were water wet. The well would now be plugged and abandoned.

"It is naturally disappointing not to have encountered a hydrocarbon accumulation and the joint venture will now fully evaluate the data collected in the well and decide where to focus its future exploration activity in the basin," said InfraStrata chief executive Andrew Hindle.

At 16:20 BST, InfraStrata was down 21.8% to 1.52p, while Baron Oil was lower 22.73% to 0.42p.