88 Energy Ltd (AIM:88E, ASX:88E, OTC:EEENF) has told investors that its latest analysis of Project Leonis, Alaskan acreage picked up earlier this year, has provided encouragement to the exploration team.
The company, in a statement, said that an initial internal review and interpretation of existing 2D seismic data “revealed a strong seismic-well tie” to the Hemi Springs (HS) exploration well drilled in 1985 and shows “a clear seismic amplitude at the USB prospect level”.
Among the exploration goals at Leonis is the test of USB (the Upper Schrader Bluff) reservoir which has been seen by the company, in aerial data, to span a potential 60 square kilometres.
The HS well was drilled in the eighties to target the deeper deep Kuparuk and Ivishak reservoir, but also cut through the USB zone encountering oil shows.
More recently, the nearby Orion, Polaris, West Sak and Milne Point fields have developed production from USB reservoirs.
88 Energy says the latest interpretation of seismic data will help it define and assess the prospectivity of the Leonis acreage.
“An initial interpretation of the reprocessed data has provided the company with an updated understanding of the potential USB prospect boundary … and the potential for a significant resource within the Project Leonis acreage,” the explorer said.
Further technical data analysis aims to better understand the petroleum system at Project Leonis including identifying and capturing finer stratigraphic and structural features.
88 Energy said it plans to commission a new third-party assessment of the project area after this current phase of work, to obtain an independent maiden prospective resource estimate over the acreage.