Regal gets stuck down hole

More bad news from the bungling Regal Petroleum, which has got part of its drilling equipment stuck down a hole in the Ukraine. The announcement was made at 4.17pm but the shares still fell by 13% to 13p. The bottom hole assembly got stuck when it was being pulled out of the SV69 well in the Ukraine. "Several attempts have been made to retrieve the assembly, but, owing to hole stability problems and equipment failures, these attempts were unsuccessful. Accordingly the well has been plugged back for a side track at a later stage." The work-over of well SV-61 was completed and production testing will start later. No more drilling will happen until the strategic review is completed. The review was announced at the end of September when chief executive David Greer left the company. Regal has conditionally sold to Chevron its 100% owned Barlad concession in Romania for $25m.The Timis Trust has been bailing out in recent days and sold enough shares to cut its stake 3.93% at the end of last week.