March 19 (SeeNews) - UK-based Reabold Resources said on Tuesday that appraisal drilling at the Iecea Mare-1 (IM-1) gas well in Romania will occur later than planned due to regulatory issues.
Reabold holds a 33% stake in Danube Petroleum, which owns the Parta exploration permit containing the Iecea Mare production licence. The remaining interest is owned by Australian oil, gas and metal exploration company ADX Energy.
The planned Parta appraisal programme consists of two wells, IM-1 and IM-2, with IM-1 expected to spud in late June, Reabold explained in an an update on the appraisal operations.
"The spudding of IM-1 will be later than previously planned, primarily due to Danube's preference to drill IM-1 from within the Production Licence, which needed to be formally transferred from Amromco before the government authority could issue a drilling permit. Furthermore, despite the acquisition of the Production Licence completing in October 2018, the full data set utilised for prospect evaluation and planning for the Production License was not handed over to ADX until 19 December 2018," Reabold said.
Amromco Energy is the company that sold the licence to ADX's Romanian subsidiary in October 2018.
Reabold added there are two key remaining milestones prior to the expected spud of IM-1 in late June - obtaining the environmental permit and the construction authorisation from local authorities.
"Based on interactions with local authorities, ADX, as the contract operator, is confident that these permits and authorisations will be by available the end of March and April 2019 respectively, enabling site construction to be undertaken in April and May 2019," Reabold said.
Reabold estimates the cost for drilling IM-1 well at $3 million (2.64 million) and says Danube Petroleum is fully funded for the operation.
London Stock Exchange-listed Reabold Resources plc is an investing company that acquires direct and indirect interests in exploration and producing projects and assets in the natural resources sector.
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