Independent Oil and Gas is finally set to drill its delayed appraisal well on the Skipper discovery in the Northern North Sea next month using Transocean's Sedco 704 semisubmersible drilling rig.
The vertical well will be drilled to 5600ft with the primary objective of retrieving good quality reservoir condition oil samples in order to optimize the Skipper field development plan and to drill two mapped reservoir structures beneath the Skipper oil field in the Lower Dornoch and Maureen formations.
IOG's directors believe an approved field development plan on Skipper would convert the board's estimated 34.1 MMbbl of contingent resources into 2P reserves.
The drilling is being part funded by the issue of shares in IOG worth £496,125 to Transocean, an amount which could be increased depending on the value of the shares at the time. The total well cost has been estimated at £6.8 million, with nearly half of that not having to be paid until December 2017.
Mark Routh CEO of IOG said: "This well should be transformational for IOG and we are delighted to drill it next month with a significantly reduced estimated duration and cost."