Ascent climbs on Pg-10 drilling completion

Ascent Resources has announced the successful completion of drilling of the Pg-10 well at the Petišovci Project in Slovenia.

The results there confirm the reservoir quality and potential commerciality of the Middle Miocene reservoir section, which is independently estimated to contain over 400 Bcf of gas-in-place, and delineate the substantial new deeper reservoir section discovered by the Pg-11A well.

Ascent said that the Pg-10 well was drilled to a total depth of 3,545 metres. The appraisal of the deeper Miocene or 'K' sand reservoirs showed a total of approximately 123 million of new net additional reservoir with 63 million of good to moderate sand quality along with another 60 million of poorer quality sands in a 370 million gross reservoir section.

"Importantly, gas is present throughout the 'K' sand in PG-10 and with the total depth of the well 45 million below Pg-11A, it increases the depth of the deepest known gas," the company confirmed in a statement, adding that it "remains confident that the RPS P50 gas in place estimate will increase significantly."

Both wells are now being completed in preparation for fracture stimulation by Haliburton. Mobilisation of fracturing equipment is planned for September.

"Our efforts are now focussed on the fracture stimulation of Pg-10 and Pg-11A, which we believe will unlock the significant intrinsic value of the project," said Ascent's managing director, Jeremy Eng.

Analyst Will Amstein at FinnCap commented: "While these results should support a material resource upgrade, the outcome of testing following fracture stimulation is more important in terms of commerciality and valuation, with these operations expected to commence in September."