Union Jack Oil (AIM: UJO) said the onshore West Newton B-1 ("WNB-1") well - the next well following the successful West Newton A-2 ("WNA-2") appraisal well - has now spud.

The UK focused onshore hydrocarbon explorer holds a 16.665% interest in PEDL183, containing the conventional West Newton A-1 discovery well and WNA-2 appraisal well.

The WNB-1 well is targeting the same conventional reservoirs in the Kirkham Abbey and Cadeby carbonate formations that were encountered by the recently drilled WNA-2 well.

The borehole will be drilled to a depth of around 2,000 metres and will continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with completion expected to take six to ten weeks. Once completed, the rig will be demobilised from the site over a period of around one week.

WNB-1 aims to intersect the hydrocarbons found in the Kirkham Abbey formation by WNA-2 in June 2019 as well as test the reservoir properties of the deeper Cadeby formation which, if found to be hydrocarbon bearing, could add significant value to the West Newton field.

The Cadeby is expected to have better reservoir development at the WNB-1 location. The well’s last re-evaluation put estimated oil in place in the Kirkham Abbey reservoir at between 146.4 million barrels in a base case and 238 million barrels in an best case.

Shares in UJO have recovered from lows of 0.08p in April 2020 and were trading 1.47% higher this morning at 0.172p following the announcement.

Results from the drilling of WNB-1 are expected to inform a subsequent programme of well testing to establish the well's productive capability as well as future drill operations.

In November 2019, Rathlin Energy, the operator of the West Newton discovery which is situated in Yorkshire, gave investors an updated hydrocarbon initially in-place volumetric estimates in respect of the Kirkham Abbey formation post drilling of the WNA-2 well.

The volumes did not include prospective resources in the Cadeby formation ‘from which the West Newton A-1 well recovered oil saturated core and the WNA-2 well encountered oil shows.’

West Newton is located at the heart of the Zero Carbon Humber project area, which aims to promote decarbonising technologies across industrial activities in the wider Humber region.

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