88 Energy gains confidence from success of neighbours

Alaska-focused oil explorer 88 Energy’s Project Icewine has received a boost after light oil was recovered across a brace of separate production tests at Pantheon Resources’ Talitha-A well, about 4.5 kilometres from the Icewine acreage. According to the company, the results at the well are highly encouraging given first pass mapping suggests parallel reservoir sequences sit between the zones.

AIM-listed Pantheon has since suspended the well after the production tests on the Kuparuk formation however expects to resume its review of its additional targets later this year. The company’s recent work follows light oil recovery over a three-day period earlier this year when it tested the Basin Floor Fan and Shelf Margin Deltaic targets in its Talitha-A well.

88 Energy says it interprets all the targets tested by Pantheon to spread into its Project Icewine tenure.

According to the company, the results of Pantheon's Talitha-A well, together with its previous drilled Alkaid-1 well, will be taken into account in a re-evaluation of 88 Energy's Icewine-1 well data set.

88 Energy will now include Pantheon's latest findings into an independent prospective resource report for project Icewine's eastern leases in the months ahead.

Project Icewine covers around 195,000 acres and is located on the same trend as a number of recent findings in the Schrader Bluff and Seabee formations.

Management says the project boasts a large independent resource of around 1.77 billion barrels of oil equivalent and following a re-evaluation of the acreage following Pantheon's success, it will press ahead with a planned farm-out.

Elsewhere at its nearby Peregrine project, the company is gearing up to spud its Merlin-2 well after announcing it had recently commissioned a rig, is building infrastructure and is close to regulatory approval for the 8000-foot sequel to the Merlin-1 oil discovery. The company previously intersected 12.5 metres of pay zones across three reservoir intervals in Merlin-1 and will be champing at the bit to eke out more black gold at the project.

2022 is shaping up to be a busy period for 88 Energy and with oil prices rising, the company could have the tiger by the tail across its Alaskan assets.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au