Columbus completes drilling and casing of Saffron well in Trinidad

The AIM-traded firm said it had successfully completed drilling and casing operations for the well, reaching a total depth of 4,634 feet, as planned.

It explained that it had completed open hole logging to a depth of 2,545 feet, with cased hole logging to total depth currently underway, and processing and interpretation to be completed in the coming weeks.

In the Upper, Middle and Lower Cruse - the tertiary, secondary and primary targets) - the company said it drilled multiple sand packages with high sandstone content and multiple oil shows to total depth.

The full potential of the well would be evaluated in the coming weeks, the board said, upon the processing and interpretation of the cased hole logging.

Columbus said it was planning to complete and test the Saffron well in the first quarter of 2020.

“The company is very pleased to have successfully completed the drilling of the Saffron well,” said executive chairman Leo Koot.

“Our drilling team has done a fantastic job in reaching target depth in a very complex geological area.

“I am excited that we have encountered multiple sand packages and multiple oil shows to total depth, as we had hoped, including in the Lower Cruse which was our primary target.”

Koot said he believed that confirmed the potential of the South West Peninsula.

“The company has gained an enormous amount of knowledge about how to successfully drill wells in the South West Peninsula and we look forward to seeing the interpreted logging data and completing and testing the Saffron well in the first quarter of 2020.

“In our view, the economics for the South West Peninsula are very robust and depending on the test results from Saffron, we look forward to further appraisal drilling as is appropriate.”

At 1559 GMT, shares in Columbus Energy Resources were down 1.54% at 3.2p.