Following the commencement of drilling at the Merlin-2 appraisal well earlier this month, 88 Energy (88E ) said the Merlin-2 surface hole has now been successfully drilled to 2,005 feet.
The Alaskan-focused explorer spudded the Merlin-2 appraisal well, which is located in Project Peregrine in the NPR-A region of the North Slope of Alaska, back on Tuesday 8 March 2022.
Today, 88 Energy informed investors that operations are progressing as planned and that the Arctic Fox rig is scheduled to commence drilling ahead to the reservoir targets ‘imminently.’
To date, the surface hole has been successfully drilled to 2,005 feet, the surface casing has been installed and cemented, and the Blow Out Preventer (BOP) system has been tested.
88 Energy anticipates all target zones to be intersected prior to reaching the permitted Total Depth (TD) of around 8,000 feet; drilling is expected to take up to two weeks from this point.
The Company explained to investors that Merlin-2 is designed to appraise the N18, N19 and N20 primary targets located in the Nanushuk Formation, which were encountered in Merlin-1 and returned compelling evidence of hydrocarbons across these three separate zones.
The Merlin-1 well, which was spudded in March 2021 and completed in April, demonstrated the presence of oil in these multiple stacked sequences in the Brookian Nanushuk Formation.
Given the suboptimal placement of the Merlin-1 well, with respect to reservoir development, the company said the Merlin-2 appraisal well represents “a move east from Merlin-1 towards the shelf edge where thicker and higher porosity/permeability formations are anticipated.”
During the current drilling phase, logging while drilling and mud logging are set to provide initial indications as to the prospectivity of the target zones at the Merlin-2 location, it said.
After reaching TD, a wireline logging program will be run, which includes collection of down hole samples and sidewall cores; in total, this is expected to take around five to seven days.
88 Energy added that it will provide further updates subsequent to Merlin-2 achieving TD.
Follow News & Updates from 88 Energy: