88 Energy Ltd on Monday said it has identified a potential location for its exploration well Hickory-1 in its project Icewine East leases.

The Icewine project is located on the central North Slope of Alaska and covers roughly 195,000 acres.

The Australia-based oil exploration and appraisal company identified the area as a key drilling location from its analysis of FB3D seismic survey data.

The well location is adjacent to the Trans Alaskan oil pipeline route and the Dalton Highway. 88 Energy said that this means ‘it delivers an immediate potential export route’.

The data included amplitude variation with offset analysis, which can determine a rock’s fluid content, density and porosity. It was noted that the fluid factor attribute has identified areas of anomalous AVO behaviour which could indicate hydrocarbon content and/or ‘superior’ pore volume.

The company said that the area is still subject to permitting, as well as joint venture and government approvals.

It added that planning and permitting for drilling of the Hickory-1 exploration well in 2023 has begun.

Managing Director Ashley Gilbert said: ‘Importantly, the Hickory-1 well, and more generally the Icewine East acreage, has been significantly de-risked by the recent drilling and flow tests carried out on the adjacent acreage by Pantheon Resources, as well as data from the Icewine-1 well logs and the richly detailed FB3D data set.

‘These existing data sets, and the multi-disciplinary evaluation undertaken on them, substantially increases our confidence in unlocking the potential of the Icewine East acreage,’ he continued.

Shares in 88 Energy were trading 0.3% higher at 0.53 pence each in London on Monday afternoon.

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