July 1 (SeeNews) - UK-based Prospex Oil and Gas said on Monday that drilling at the Bainet-2 well at the Suceava concession in northeastern Romania has found no commercially recoverable hydrocarbons.
The company was therefore advised by the operator, Raffles Energy, that the well should be plugged and abandoned, Prospex said in a press release.
The cost of Bainet-2, including plugging and abandoning, is estimated at 520,000 euro ($591,053).
"Clearly the result of the well is not what we were looking for, however, our first thoughts are to commend the operations team on the ground and our partner in the concession on the drilling of Bainet-2 without incident, within budget and on schedule. Bainet-2 had a favourable risk/reward trade-off," Prospex non-executive chairman, Bill Smith, said.
"However, as is the nature of oil and gas exploration, discoveries can only be made following success with the drillbit, regardless of the presence of a number of producing fields and historic discoveries on or around a licence, as is the case with Suceava."
Prospex's wholly-owned subsidiary, PXOG Massey Limited, holds a 50% non-operated interest in the 984 sq km concession, with the balance held by Raffles Energy.
In March, Prospex said it has raised 800,000 British pounds (899,562 euro) via a share placing to help finance its work in 2019 at the Suceava concession. Also in March, Prospex announced that Romania's National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) has granted permission for an enlargement of the exploration area in Suceava, which also includes a new gas prospect.
The AIM-quoted investment company Prospex Oil and Gas is focused on high impact onshore and shallow offshore European opportunities with short timelines to production. The company's management acquires undervalued projects with multiple, tangible value trigger points that can be realised within 12 months of acquisition and then applying low cost re-evaluation techniques to identify and de-risk prospects.
($=0.8833 euro).