Strike Energy Ltd. has spud the Jaws-1 horizontal well as part of its appraisal campaign, the company said in a press release on March 14.

The rig broke dirt after an issue free move to the horizontal lease.

The Jaws-1 project wells are being drilled by Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) in collaboration with Ensign (NASDAQ: ENSG) on the 965. The horizontal well is the second of the two well appraisal campaign designed to prove commercial flow rates of gas and assess the quality of Strike’s Southern Cooper Basin Gas Project in PEL96 (Strike 66.67% and operator, Energy World Corp. 33.33%).

The Jaws-1 project drilling program remains on track to complete in April 2018 ready for fracture stimulation.