- Melbana Energy (MAY) has flagged delays to drilling at the Alameda-1 exploration well in onshore Cuba
- The set-back comes after cement injected to secure the liner did not set properly
- Remedial work is underway with drilling to primary objectives to resume thereafter
- The company believes it’s made an oil and gas discovery in the secondary objective and is awaiting the results of oil sample analyses
- Company shares are down 3.7 per cent to trade at 2.6 cents
Melbana Energy (MAY) has flagged delays to drilling operations at the Alameda-1 exploration well in onshore Cuba.
The company said drilling had been delayed over the past week after cement injected to secure the well’s liner did not set to a satisfactory standard.
Remedial work is reportedly ongoing to re-cement the liner in place, with drilling to primary objectives set to resume once completed.
Meanwhile, MAY said samples of oil recovered from the well’s upper secondary objective had been sent off for analysis.
Accordingly, Melbana’s geoscience team is preparing an initial estimate of the potential extent of identified pay zones.
Melbana’s executive chairman Andrew Purcell said the company was increasingly optimistic that it had made an oil and gas discovery in the upper secondary objective.
“While determining the commerciality of the discovery will require future drilling, we are very encouraged for the prospects of the deeper primary targets in this well, as well as for our overall Block 9 drilling portfolio to which we expect to add new upper-sheet prospects, which could be drilled at relatively low cost,” Mr Purcell said.
“Our geoscience team continues to geologically re-map the upper horizons to determine estimates of volumes of hydrocarbons in the pay zones identified to date.”
Mr Purcell said the oil samples suggested a lighter oil than that which often occurred in shallow horizons in northern Cuba.
“This is also a very encouraging sign and we await the analysis of that oil with interest,” Mr Purcell said.
Following the announcement, company shares were down 3.7 per cent to trade at 2.6 cents each at 11:17 am AEDT.