31st March 2021
This announcement contains inside information
88 Energy Limited
Operations Update
88 Energy Limited ("88 Energy" or the "Company", ASX:88E, AIM:88E, OTC:EEENF) is pleased to provide the following update related to its operations in the NPR-A region of the North Slope of Alaska.
Highlights
· Umiat Oil Field acquisition conditions satisfied
· Wireline logging continues at Merlin-1
Details
The final condition related to the acquisition of the Umiat Oil Field ("Umiat") is now complete with cement work associated with plugging and abandoning of two historical wells at the field now executed. Remedial site work will be finalised in the near term.
Umiat is an historic oil discovery, made in 1945 in shallow Brookian (Nanushuk) sandstones, located immediately adjacent to the southern boundary of Project Peregrine.
The field is covered by two leases comprising 17,633 acres, which are in a unit that was formed in September 2019 with an initial 10 year term. The current conditions of the unit stipulate a well commitment (exploration or appraisal) by 31st August 2022.
Umiat was discovered in the mid-1940s with 11 appraisal wells drilled by 1953, several of which were tested. Umiat-5 flowed 268 barrels per day on a 3 month test and Umiat-8 had a peak flow rate of 5.9mmcf/d of natural gas during a 4 day test. Little work was done until 2013/2014 when Linc Energy drilled two wells, Umiat-18 and Umiat-23H. Umiat-23H was tested with a maximum flow rate of 800 barrels per day and sustained flow of 200 barrels per day. Refer to ASX announcement dated 11 January 2021 for further details.
Wireline logging operations at the Merlin-1 well at Project Peregrine are underway, with preliminary results expected over the weekend.
Managing Director, Dave Wall, commented: "The acquisition of the proven oil field at Umiat is a significant milestone for the Company and its shareholders, particularly in the context of any discovery made at Project Peregrine, where wireline logging is currently underway."
About Project Peregrine - Logging Underway
Project Peregrine is located in the NPR-A region of the North Slope of Alaska and encompasses ~195,000 contiguous acres. It is situated on trend to recent discoveries in a newly successful play type in topset sands in the Nanushuk formation. 88 Energy has a 100% working interest in the project that will reduce to 50% post the completion of funding as part of a recent farm-in, whereby 88E is carried on the first US$10m (of an initially estimated US$12.6m total cost) for the Merlin-1 well.
The Merlin-1 well is spud in March 2021 and is targeting 645 million barrels of gross mean prospective resource#. A second well, Harrier-1, is planned to be drilled in 2022 and is targeting gross mean prospective resource of 417 million barrels#.
Independent Resource Assessment#
| Project Peregrine: Alaska North Slope | Unrisked Net Entitlement to 88E Prospective Oil Resources (MMstb) | ||||
| Prospects (Probabilistic Calculations) | Low (1U) | Best (2U) | High (3U) | Mean | COS |
| Merlin (Nanushuk) | 41 | 270 | 1,463 | 645 | 37% |
| Harrier (Nanushuk) | 48 | 207 | 940 | 417 | 24% |
| Harrier Deep (Torok) | 42 | 267 | 1,336 | 574 | 20% |
| Prospects Total | | | | 1,636 | |
#Please refer to release dated 23 February 2021 for full details with respect to the Prospective Resource estimate, associated risking and applicable Cautionary Statement.
Each of the Merlin and Harrier prospects is located on trend to an existing discovery, in the same play type (Nanushuk topsets). This has de-risked the prospects considerably and resulted in a relatively high independently estimated geologic chance of success.
Cautionary Statement: The estimated quantities of petroleum that may be potentially recovered by the application of a future development project relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration, appraisal and evaluation are required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially movable hydrocarbons.
The below graphics can be found in the pdf version of this announcement available from the Company's website;
· Figure 1: Umiat Oil Field Location
· Figure 2: Project Peregrine and Recent Nanushuk Discoveries
· Figure 3: Merlin-1 - on trend to large Willow oil field
Media and Investor Relations:
88 Energy Ltd
Dave Wall, Managing Director Tel: +61 8 9485 0990
Email: admin@88energy.com
Finlay Thomson, Investor Relations Tel: +44 7976 248471
EurozHartleys Ltd
Dale Bryan Tel: + 61 8 9268 2829
Cenkos Securities Tel: + 44 131 220 6939
Neil McDonald / Derrick Lee
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