The Heron-1 well is targeting a prospect with 25 million bbl of Mean Prospective Recoverable Resource and is planned to drill to a total depth of 3050 m. The well is expected to take up to 40 days to complete. In the event of a discovery, the company will bring in a separate rig for testing. A call-off testing contract has been signed, which ensures testing operations, if warranted, can commence soon after discovery.
Upon completion of drilling operations at Heron-1 the rig will move c. 5 km to the Gazelle-1 location.
Mobilisation of the company's second contracted rig to the Red Deer-1 location is ongoing with a targeted spud date before the end of July.
Further operational updates will be provided in due course.
Mike Buck, the CEO of Petro Matad said: "We are delighted to announce the spudding of the Heron-1 exploration well in Block XX to commence our fully-funded 2019 drilling programme. The second half of the year has the potential to be a transformational period for Petro Matad and we look forward to updating you on our progress."