Kinetiko to start drilling appraisal production wells in South Africa
Australia-listed Kinetiko Energy expects to start drilling five appraisal production wells in permit ER271 in South Africa in February 2024.
CEO Nick de Blocq said, "We expect to commence drilling five appraisal production wells to the west and north of Volksrust in February 2024. These sites have already undergone environmental site assessments and have been approved by the regulator."
"They will be appraisal wells in nature but completed for production. The objectives are to identify optimal development sites for clusters of wells for the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) joint venture as well as to perform extended well flow testing," he added.
Kinetiko recently awarded a drilling contract to Infin Drilling to deliver five appraisal production wells. These wells, scheduled to be commenced in mid-Q1 2024, are targeting a geological region in between explored areas where some of the company's most gassy core wells were drilled over the last 12 months.
The planned wells are also proximate to the Lily gas pipeline, potentially providing available infrastructure for local off-takers or infield LNG plants for virtual pipelines, Kinetiko said.
The company said it is continuing to progress its application for a production right over ER 271. The environmental impact assessment is underway with leading environmental consultants WSP anticipating to have their report completed by late Q1 2024.
The processing and grant of the production right by South African regulators is anticipated to take six months, enabling the production right to be in place prior to planned first commercial production later in 2024 from the Amersfoort production cluster as part of the first IDC joint venture, the company said.
Earlier this year, state-owned IDC advanced the first funds towards its joint venture with Afro Energy, a subsidiary of Sydney-listed Kinetiko Energy, to develop gas assets in the Amersfoort region of South Africa.
In August Kinetiko and IDC signed an agreement to co-develop a new joint venture focused on the appraisal and production of LNG.