Ascent will commence the re-drilling of the Fontana-1 well in the next few days. The drilling rig has arrived on location, drilling is expected to take a month and is designed to collect cores to appraise the shallow part of the Anagni structure in the Frosinone Exploration permit in the Latina Valley of Italy.

Re-drilling of the well is necessary as the original well, while having demonstrated the presence of the target formations in a structurally high position, experienced mechanical problems which prevented the collection of core samples.

The original Fontana-1 well reached the target formation 300m shallower than at the Anagni-1 location and confirmed the interpretation of the seismic data. The new well will utilise a slightly larger rig and use a modified procedure to try to ensure the reliable recovery of core samples.

Jeremy Eng Ascent's Managing Director said, "The potential upside from Fontana-1 still remains and we are keen to test the structure that we believe has significant potential. As well as using the larger rig, we are employing a different operating approach to that used in the original drilling of Fontana-1 and therefore do not expect the technical issues previously encountered to reoccur."

Tags: Ascent Resources plc