Operational Update - Commencement of drilling in Mengo-Kundji-Bindi, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville)

Panoro Energy ASA (“PEN”, OSE ticker code), the independent oil and gas company with assets in West Africa and Brazil is pleased to announce commencement of drilling of the KUN-201 onshore well in Mengo-Kundji-Bindi (“MKB”).

The KUN-201 well is the first of up to six wells to be drilled in this new drilling campaign. The KUN-201 well will be directionally drilled and is expected to encounter the top Mengo sandstones of the Kundji field at approximately 1,900 meters measured depth or 1,300 meters vertical depth. The well is expected to reach a final measured depth of approximately 2,200 meters. 

The KUN-201 well will be drilled from the Kundji 200 platform which is located some 3.5 km south of the Kundi 100 platform where the KUN-4bis and KUN-5 production wells are located, and drilling operations are expected to take around 35 to 45 days. The KUN-201 well will deviate from its surface location in the direction of these two existing production wells, so the final bottom hole location will be approximately 2 km south of these wells. This represents a significant step out from the proven area of the field and as a result the well is expected to extend the proven reserves of the field. Operations to hydraulically fracture and production test the well will be optimised going forward as part of the multi-well campaign. 

CEO Kjetil Solbrække commented, “We are delighted to be resuming drilling on the MKB license after the recent break in activity. We initially look forward to the geological results from the drilling operations and later to production information once we hydraulically fracture the wells. These wells will enable the operator to optimise the long term development of this very significant hydrocarbon resource, whilst at the same time continue to build up a production base for the field”.

The MKB permit is a large, low permeability license onshore in the Republic of Congo. The Mengo, Kundji and Bindi fields had a total of six producing wells drilled by Elf in the 1980's and 1990's. The permit was reissued to Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (“SNPC”) and partners in 2009. Panoro Energy holds 20% in the license.

For further information, please contact:
Jonas Gamre, Finance & Investor Relations Manager
Tel: +47 23 01 10 02
Cell: +47 971 18 292
Email: jonas.gamre@panoroenergy.com  

Please visit www.panoroenergy.com for more information.