Matra Petroleum suffers delay

Matra, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in Russia, has said that the timings of commissioning of certain facilities and production start-up at the Sokolovskoe oil field may be pushed back by four to six weeks.

The firm attributed the delay to the spring snow thaw that can make transportation of heavy equipment to the well-site difficult.

Managing Director, Peter Hind, was naturally keen to emphasise the positive steps the company has taken: "Good progress is being made on the fabrication and installation of production equipment on the 100% owned Sokolovskoe oil discovery and we are excited about achieving oil production in the near future from our considerable oil reserves on this field."

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The A-13 well is on track to produce 100 barrels of oil per day following the installation of surface production facilities and a down-hole electrical submersible pump.

Meanwhile, drilling of the proposed production well, A-14, is needed to fully evaluate the Sokolovskoe oil field before proceeding with a full field development decision, the firm said.

The company anticipates that the proposed A-14 well will confirm much better reservoir qualities and production characteristics than those seen in either well A-12 or well A-13.

If the proposed A-14 well is successful, Matra believe it could add up to an additional 10 million barrels to the company's contingent resources.

The share price fell 5.62% to 0.76p by 13:05.

NR