Serinus Energy Plc has provided an update on its operations in Romania on June 12.

The drilling of the Moftinu – 1007 well has concluded achieving a total planned depth of 1,463 m (4,799 ft). The well was drilled according to schedule and approximately 20% below budget.

The drilling rig has been released and a snubbing unit has been mobilized to perform the well completion operations, which have commenced.

Log analysis undertaken during the drilling operations have identified three gas-bearing Pliocene zones. The A3 sand formation was intersected from 736 m (2,414 ft) to 738 m (2,421 ft), the A2 from 809 m (2,654 ft) to 813 m (2,667 ft), and the A1 from 883 m (2,896 ft) to 898 m (2,946 ft). These are the same sand zones as were perforated and tested in the Moftinu – 1001 well and these zones will be perforated and tested during the current completion and testing operations on the Moftinu – 1007 well.

It is expected that the completion and testing operations will last approximately two weeks. The company has allowed additional testing time to allow sufficient pressure build-up of the producing zones. The flowline to move gas from the Moftinu-1007 site to the Moftinu Gas Plant is under construction.

The construction of the Moftinu gas plant is proceeding. The fiscal metering skid installation has reached the final stage and the company has engaged the operatorship transfer process of the sales gas line to Transgaz and for Transgaz to proceed with the hot tap connection of the sales gas line to the Transgaz national gas transmission line. The company expects to begin the pre-commissioning and commissioning of the gas plant with first gas from Moftinu-1000, in late June. Gas from Moftinu – 1007 will be added to the commissioning process in mid-July.

Initially the gas plant commissioning will begin without the Low Temperature Separation unit and the Triethylene Glycol unit which are in final assembly and are expected to be on site by the end of August 2018The pre-commissioning and commissioning of the gas plant less the units will result in the company producing and delivering gas from both the Moftinu – 1000 and Moftinu – 1007 wells to the Transgaz system as soon as the latter half of July 2018. As a result, the company is finalizing a sales gas agreement with a gas trader to handle these sales volumes on behalf of the company.

The company has also initiated the civil works required to prepare the Moftinu – 1003 site for drilling. These works are anticipated to last for approximately four weeks once construction has begun. The company is actively reviewing the rig market in Romania to identify suitable rigs for the drilling of Moftinu – 1003 and Moftinu – 1004. The timing of the drilling of both Moftinu – 1003 (TD 1,600 m) and Moftinu – 1004 (TD 2,000 m) is dependent upon the availability of suitable rigs. The company will provide updates in due course pursuant to site preparation and rig selection.