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(Sharecast News) - UK Oil & Gas announced on Monday that, following completion of the Basur-3 appraisal well's drilling pad and finalisation of the rig contract, the Oceanmec Karahan ZJ40DZ rig had now been mobilised to the site from western Turkey.
The AIM-traded firm said that as of just before midnight on 19 June, 38 related loads had been received at the site.
It said the rig-up and rig-acceptance stage was expected to continue throughout the coming week, with an expected drilling start shortly after that.
Basur-3 would be the first modern well designed to properly appraise and assess the extent and commercial viability of the discovered Basur-Resan oil pool.
The well would test the north-western structural culmination of the 60 square kilometre Basur-Resan geological structure, about 1.2 kilometres north and geologically updip from the 1964 Basur-1 oil discovery well.
As detailed in announcements in October and January, UKOG said Basur-1 produced 500 barrels of oil from a short six-hour test.
Further wells drilled in the 1950s to the southwest within the Resan area of the structure reported good oil shows at comparable depths to those at Basur, with one well recovering live oil to surface.
The company noted that the data quality, record keeping and operational practices employed in Basur-Resan's 1950s-1960s wells were considered "poor" by modern standards, thus the necessity for new data acquisition and knowledge to properly assess the discovery's overlooked potential.
UKOG Turkey holds a 50% interest in Basur-3 and the surrounding 305 square kilometre Resan M47-b1,b2 licence.
"This welcome news is yet further confirmation that the pace of operations is far more rapid in Turkey than the UK, taking only three months from the start of site construction to the arrival of the drilling rig," said chief executive officer Stephen Sanderson.
"We look forward to rig acceptance and to drilling the first well in our planned Turkish campaign."
At 1126 BST, shares in UK Oil & Gas were up 19.94% at 0.22p.
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