MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland Oil and Gas: Further Update on Toroa F61/5-1 Exploration Well Spud

FOGL had been expecting to announce preliminary results of the well during this week; however, there have been some further delays due to some minor operational issues and weather related downtime.

Investors anticipating the results of a well being drilled by Falkland Oil & Gas (LON:FOGL) on the Toroa prospect to the south of the Falkland Islands, were left waiting today after the company said that early results from the well were not now expected until next week. 

FOGL began drilling the Toroa F61/5-1 exploration well in May towards an estimated target depth of around 2,700 metres, with preliminary results scheduled for this week.  The company blamed the delay on further delays due to some minor operational issues and weather related downtime. Shares in AIM listed FOGL soared from 199p to 244p during the last week of June but slipped back by 6.5% to 227.7p on the news today.

The Toroa prospect is located in Licence PL15, in which FOGL has a 49% interest alongside BHP Billiton. The company is planning a two-phase drilling programme, starting at Toroa and then moving on to a deepwater campaign, which is currently expected to start in late 2010. Under the terms of its farm-in agreement, BHP Billiton is funding more than two thirds of the total cost of the committed two well programme.

FOGL is one of four listed groups operating in the Falklands, which include Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH), Desire Petroleum (LON:DES) and Borders & Southern Petroleum (LON:BOR) . It is using the Ocean Guardian drilling rig, which was initially contracted by Desire Petroleum last year and began work in the region in February. In May, Rockhopper became the first company to strike significant oil, with a discovery at its Sea Lion prospect in the North Falkland Basin. (Stockopedia)