Wedoany.com Report-Dec 26, Zephyr Energy plc (AIM: ZPHR), a Rocky Mountain-based oil and gas company committed to responsible resource development and carbon-neutral operations, has provided an update on its flagship Paradox project located in the Paradox Basin, Utah, USA. The company is preparing to drill an extended lateral from the existing wellbore of the State 36-2 LNW-CC-R well.

Rig Contract Award

Following the confirmation of wellbore-level funding announced on December 18, 2024, Zephyr Energy is pleased to announce signing a rig contract with Nabors Drilling USA (“Nabors”) for their B29 rig. This rig will be utilized to drill the extended lateral.

Nabors, a global drilling contractor with one of the largest land drilling fleets worldwide, brings extensive onshore U.S. drilling experience. The B29 rig is ideally equipped to handle the extended lateral drilling and manage the high reservoir pressures anticipated at the site. Currently concluding a successful drilling campaign in a nearby basin, the rig and its crew are expected to mobilize to the Paradox project site by mid-January.

In preparation, Zephyr Energy has deployed a workover rig to the site to remove production tubing and ready the wellbore for the arrival of the larger Nabors drilling rig.

Outlook for 2025

Drilling of the extended lateral is scheduled to begin in January 2025. The horizontal drilling will extend approximately 5,500 feet into the Cane Creek reservoir from near the base of the existing wellbore. Zephyr’s management projects that the well could ultimately recover up to two million barrels of oil equivalent upon completion.

After the extended lateral drilling is finished, the Nabors rig will be demobilized, and the necessary equipment for completing and conducting production tests on the well will be relocated to the site. Results from the production test are expected by the end of March 2025.

Once the production test results are evaluated and deemed satisfactory, Zephyr Energy will proceed to finalize the gas processing and related infrastructure requirements. This will enable the integration of both the newly drilled well and the State 16-2 LN-CC well as promptly as possible.

Colin Harrington, Zephyr’s Chief Executive, said:

“We are delighted to secure Nabor’s B29 rig within our time frame, and we believe the rig is ideally suited to drill this well. Our primary goal is to deliver a safe and effective drilling operation, with full drilling operations expected to commence early in the New Year.

“Now that the funding for this well is secured and the rig contract is in place, we can look forward to 2025 with optimism and confidence. I’m pleased we’ve reached the end of 2024 on such a positive note, with all the pieces in place for us to deliver on our key strategic objective of opening up the next prolific onshore U.S. oil and gas play.

“We will continue to provide regular updates on progress and, in the meantime, I would like to thank our stakeholders for their ongoing support and wish everyone a safe and peaceful holiday season.”