The drilling contract was more complex than anticipated due to the specifics of Uruguay taxation and labour laws, and had to take account of the fitout of a new rig and transportation from Colorado.
While it was hoped that some of the equipment would be mobilised by mid-December given the delay in finalising the drilling contract this was unfortunately not achievable. As things stand at present we are investigating the option of mobilising what equipment we can in late January to allow site preparations to commence. Due to the Christmas break, the rig will follow in February after final fitout and inspections. Regular updates will be provided from initial shipping through to site preparations and spudding of the first well.
Managing Director, Mr David Casey, said “while the intricacies of the Uruguay taxation system has delayed finalisation of the drilling contract and pushed the final fitout and shakedown of the drilling rig into the Christmas break, New Force have confirmed that they will do all they can to expedite the process. With both SEI partners fully funded for the complete 4 well programme, and with the rig contract now finalised, to enable us to meet our commitments until late 2017 early 2018, Petrel is decidedly better placed than it was some 12 months ago”.
He went on to say “that this is in large part due to the continued support of our shareholders through what have been challenging times for Petrel and our industry as a whole, and it is fantastic to be able to reward all shareholders with what is an extremely exciting drilling programme at a time when the global energy thematic is improving. With multiple wells and multiple targets, 2017 is shaping up as a breakout year for Petrel ”.
Petrel’s overarching vision for Uruguay is to drill four wells as cheaply as possible and cover as much of the concession area as possible while targeting multiple and different objectives within and across each well. More specifically the programme will seek to answer questions from the 2015 partner process such as:
• confirm source rock maturity, quality and extent – resource upside
• confirm conventional reservoir quality and extent – Darcy permeability (>1000md) already measured in core samples 30km apart
• confirm migration and potential trap integrity – while not the primary objective 3 of the 4 wells are also targeting structures for oil and gas trapped in either the same sequence or up-dip of oil shows and/or weeping core samples
• confirm validity of AVO anomalies identified on seismic
