Last checked at 22 Dec 2022 08:14
22 December 2022
Caspian Sunrise PLC
Operational Update
The Board of Caspian Sunrise are pleased to provide this year end operational update.
Operations
Deep Well 802
Drilling has reached a depth of 3,614 meters without incident and has paused to allow approximately 300 meters of casing to be laid.
The salt layer is believed to be bounded between depths of 3,580 meters and 3,860 meters. The oil bearing interval previously encountered was at a depth of 3,900 meters. We intend to drill to a depth of 4,100 meters before perforating and testing the well.
Based on current timelines we would expect drilling and testing to be completed by the end of January 2023.
Other deep wells
A new G70 rig, on which we expected to complete the purchase in the next few weeks, will be used to resume drilling at Deep Well A7, which was paused at a depth of 2,150 meters.
The G50 rig in use at 802 will, when free, be used to drill the planned side track at Deep Well A5.
The approach to already drilled Deep Wells A6 and 801 will be decided once the results from Deep Wells A5, A7 and 802 are available.
Shallow wells
Work continues to bring wells 141 and 142 back into production and is expected to be completed in Q1 2023, following which if successful production is expected to return to much closer to the previous approximately 4,000 bopd.
Well 155, a new shallow well on the MJF structure, is expected to be spudded in Q1 2023 and drilled to a planned Total Depth of 2,500 meters.
Production and pricing
Production without any contribution from shallow wells 141 and 142 or from deep well 802 remains at approximately 2,400 bopd.
All production continues to be sold on the domestic market, including to mini refineries. That there are no international sales is directly as the result of the continuing discounts for oil emerging from the Russian pipeline network, even though sanctions do not apply to oil produced in Kazakhstan and transported via the Russian pipeline network.
Block 8
Due diligence work continues with the expectation that, provided there are no material adverse findings, the option to acquire Block 8 will be triggered in Q1 2023 and the acquisition would complete later that year.
Caspian Explorer
The Group is in separate discussions to charter the Caspian Explorer in 2023 and 2024. In both cases any resulting charters would be to drill wells in the Caspian Sea rather than for safety related purposes where the charter rates are much lower.
Dividends
The Company has now made two dividends declaration of £1 million each. Payment for the first dividend should be with all shareholders for whom either the Company or its registrars Link have full payment details. The payment date for the second dividend will be 16 January 2023.
Ends
Qualified person
Mr. Assylbek Umbetov, a member Association of Petroleum Engineers, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosures in this announcement.
Contacts
Caspian Sunrise PLC
Clive Carver
Chairman +7 727 375 0202
WH Ireland, Nominated Adviser & Broker
James Joyce +44 (0) 207 220 1666
James Bavister
Andrew de Andrade
This announcement has been posted to: www.caspiansunrise.com/investors
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the UK version of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended ("MAR"). Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.