Confident Chariot drills second well

Chariot, the African focused oil and gas exploration company, has announced that wholly owned subsidiary, Enigma Oil and Gas, in conjunction with its partners will soon start drilling its second well off the Namibian coast weeks after its first well yielded no oil.
Chariot recently reached an agreement with Ocean Rig UDW Inc. to use the Ocean Rig Poseidon drill ship to drill the Kabeljou well on the Nimrod prospect. The Poseidon is anticipated to arrive on location in July and the drilling operations will startshortly thereafter.
The Nimrod prospect is located in the Orange Basin in Southern Block 2714A where Chariot has a 25% equity interest. Operator, Petrobas, owns 50% of the Sourthern Block 2714A, while oil giant, BP has another 25% interest.
The Kabeljou well is expected to take approximately two months to drill. The drilling location is 77 km offshore Namibia in 360 metres of water with an estimated total drilling depth of 3100 metres.
This is the second well to be drilled in Chariot’s four to five exploration well programme offshore Namibia after the first well, Tapir South, rated as having a 25% chance of success and targeting resource potential of some 604 million barrels of oil, was abandoned after the well was found to contain no commercial hydrocarbons despite the penetration of reservoirs that Chariot described as “excellent”.
Chariot also announced that it is processing the 3D seismic data acquired from the recent survey carried out in the central blocks. The company said that initial results are showing that the data quality is very good.
Detailed analyses are also due to commence on the samples from the Tapir South well shortly and once these evaluations are complete, and the results of the Kabeljou well have been assessed, the company said it will be in a position to determine the next wells of the drilling programme for 2013.
Commenting on the new drilling programme, CEO Paul Welch said:“We are very pleased to be advancing with our drilling programme and eagerly anticipate the spud of the Kabeljou well with our partners.
“Nimrod is one of the biggest prospects due to be drilled worldwide this year and we look forward to being able to update the market with further news on this hugely significant well in due course.”
Following the announcement of the second drilling programme, Chariot’s share price rebounded to above 83 pounds after falling to 75 pounds at the announcement of the Tapir South well results.