Touchstone Exploration (LSE:TXP) jumped nearly 10% to 50.3p on Monday morning after independent analysis confirmed the “tremendous potential” of its Cascadura discovery in Trinidad.
The firm said evaluator GLJ analysed test results from its Cascadura-1ST1 well and concluded that the reservoir underpinning its discovery “appears to be unbounded”.
As a result, Cascadura is confirmed to contain a larger pool than originally anticipated.
“We are extremely pleased with the final testing data and GLJ’s independent analysis of the stage one and stage two information, as both confirm the tremendous potential of the Cascadura-1ST1 discovery,” said Touchstone’s chief operating officer James Shipka.
“The low sandface drawdown, high reservoir pressure, and rapid recovery suggest a sizeable reservoir with excellent production potential. With minimal drawdown observed while flowing and with no boundaries seen in the analysis, the pressure data confirms that the Cascadura pool is larger than the area of investigation observed during the tests.”
Elsewhere, Touchstone said modelling has indicated that it is reasonable to design for an initial gross production rate of between 7,750 and 9,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day from Cascadura. This is based on estimated gross rates of 40-50 million cubic feet a day of natural gas and 1,100 to 1,400 barrels of oil equivalent a day of condensate.
Touchstone now believes that revealing the true size of Cascadura – which is based on its highly prospective Ortoire block in Trinidad – will now require additional drilling and production.
“We are now working with GLJ to complete an independent reserves evaluation for the Cascadura feature, which we expect in July,” added Shipka. “The evaluation will use the test data along with wireline logs, analogous pool data, offset production and seismic to properly assign reserves to the pool.”
Meanwhile, Monday also saw Touchstone reveal that it remains on course to drill its next prospect at Ortoire, called Chinook. Slated for a July spud, this work will see the company explore a separate structure to Cascadura along the same geological trend.
“With several near-term catalysts for the Company, now is an exciting time for Touchstone, and we look forward to updating all our stakeholders in due course,” concluded Shipka.
Please click to hear to watch ValueTheMarkets’ recent webinar with Touchstone’s executive team, in which they discussed the firm’s plans at Ortoire in great detail.