October 31 (SeeNews) - UK-based Prospex Oil and Gas said on Tuesday that it plans to start drilling Bainet-1 well on the Suceava concession in Romania in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Prospex will start drilling in Bainet once its Weatherford 865 rig will be released from drilling operations in a neighbouring block, it said in a press release.
"Once these operations are complete the rig will move and commence operations at Bainet-1. It is anticipated that the rig could be onsite in a couple of weeks, but exact timings remain dependent on the rig being released from its current operations," Prospex said.
The Bainet well is a shallow gas target mapped on 3D seismic that has been assigned internal gross prospective resources of approximately 1.5 billion cubic feet recoverable.
Bainet is one of several low cost and low risk exploration and development opportunities that Prospex has identified at Suceava.
"From the outset we set out to expose our shareholders to value triggering events such as drilling, and we are doing just that," non-executive chairman Bill Smith said.
In September, Prospex it has raised 650,000 British pounds (709,175 euro) to fund its 2017 work programme at the Suceava concession.
In August, Prospex Oil and Gas acquired a 50% economic interest in the Exploration Area of the EIV-1 Suceava Concession through its 100% owned subsidiary PXOG Massey for 750,000 euro. The acquisition consists of the exploration area with the Grancesti SE-1 undeveloped discovery, a number of prospects at varying stages of development and some leads. The balance of the exploration area interest is held by Raffles Energy S.R.L, an established gas producer in Romania.
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.
(1 British pound=1.091 euro)