MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Premier Oil shares up on appraisal of its Zama deposit appraisal in Mexico

CEO Tony Durrant said the appraisal enhances “our interpretation of the large Zama discovery and increases our confidence in our resource estimates”.

Premier Oil shares were up on Thursday after the company updates the market on the successful completion of part of its Zama well appraisal program in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the update, the appraisal revealed 152 metres of net pay encountered above the oil water contact.

Alongside this, it revealed a 73% Net-to-Gross ratio, which proved higher than that at Zama-1 and ahead of pre-drill estimates. Moreover, reservoir quality was noted as similar to to that at Zama-1 as anticipated.

Tony Durrant, Chief Executive, commented: “This is an excellent start to the Block 7 Zama appraisal programme in Mexico. It enhances our interpretation of the large Zama discovery and increases our confidence in our resource estimates. We now look forward to the results of the drill stem test of the Zama-2 side track.”

Earlier this month, Premier Oil released its trading update in anticipation of its full-year results set to be posted in March.

According to the update, the company expects year-end net debt of US$ 2.3 billion, just under previous guidance of US$ 2.4 billion. This marked a reduction of US$ 390 million back in 2017.
In addition, full year production was up 7% from 2017, at 80.5 kboepd.

Production came in at an average of 92 kboepd, ahead of forecasts back in November and December.

Premier Oil's interests are located in the North Sea, South East Asia, the Falkland Islands, and Latin America.