LONDON (Alliance News) - Amerisur Resources PLC on Thursday said it has identified the cause of lower production from its Platanillo-22 well in Colombia and the Chiritza re-pumping station in Ecuador is also ahead of schedule.
In late July, Amerisur said it was working over Platanillo-22 due to a fall in output.
The company said logs run in the well suggest there was a "severe" degradation in the cement sheath, leading to a drop in production whilst also increasing the amount of water flowing in.
Amerisur does not know why the degradation happened, but performed a cement squeeze and testing since suggests the problem has been rectified.
Amerisur re-completed and partially perforated Platanillo-22 a week ago, and it is now producing at around 360 barrels of oil per day at a low pump rate, with water cut at 3.2% and falling.
It will keep an eye on the well, and those figures, for a further five days, and then the company will make another perforation and increase the pump rate to boost production.
Once this work is finished, Amerisur expects to mobilise a rig to drill its Pintadillo-1 well.
At its Chiritza re-pumping station, Amerisur successfully tied-in the Chiritza manifold to the RODA main pipeline, and it is now installing booster pumps and control systems.
Amerisur hopes to commission the station in September, which would be on budget but ahead of schedule.
On the Pintadillo-1 site, Amerisur expects to mobilise a rig to drill once it finishes work at Platanillo-22.
July production was 150,911 barrels of oil. This is equal to average daily output of 4,868 barrels, with overall production hit by the Platanillo-22 work. In June, total production was 154,064 barrels.
Chief Executive John Wardle said: "I am delighted the Chiritza re-pumping station upgrade is on budget and ahead of schedule and am grateful to the Ecuadorian government for their support in this complex engineering project.
"July production was impacted by the work on Platanillo-22, which to date has been successful."
He added: "We are ready for the upcoming drilling programme and I look forward to updating shareholders on its progress."
Amerisur Resources shares were 3.8% higher on Thursday at a price of 15.07 pence each.
