Rialto Energy Limited, provides the following weekly update on drilling operations at the Gazelle-P3 Well as at 06:00hrs, 16 April 2012 (GMT).

The Gazelle-P3 well was spudded on 12 March 2012 using the Transocean GSF Monitor jack-up drilling rig. The well is the first of an overall three well drilling programme on CI-202 that is anticipated to take six months to complete, together with testing.

The well was drilled to a depth of 1070m, at which point the drill-pipe became stuck. During the process of trying to free the drill-pipe, mechanical problems with the rig equipment occurred which have since been rectified by the drilling contractor, Transocean. Drilling the 17.5" hole section is expected to commence in the next 24 hours.

Tags: Rialto Energy