Caspian Sunrise PLC (LSE:CASP), the Kazakhstan-focused oil and gas company, saw its shares climb 8% to 2.16p after announcing an expanded and accelerated drilling programme at its BNG Contract Area.
The company said encouraging results from the Yelemes Deep structure prompted it to bring forward additional drilling plans and expand its activity.
Three further deep wells are now planned at the structure, with Deep Wells 701 and 707 expected to be spudded in July 2026.
The move follows progress at Deep Well 803, which has been deepened to 3,927 metres and previously produced oil during testing from a Lower Triassic sandstone reservoir.
Caspian Sunrise intends to perforate and test additional intervals at the well to potentially boost output, although it cautioned that the deeper target zone has not yet been fully penetrated or tested.
Deep Well 701 is planned to reach 5,000 metres, targeting Permian and Carboniferous reservoirs, including a Moscowian interval that previously produced around 107 barrels of oil per day at a nearby well.
Deep Well 707 will be drilled to 3,500 metres to test a fault-related structure, while a third well, Deep Well 703, is scheduled for the second half of 2026.
That well is intended to support a potential reserves upgrade under Kazakhstan’s classification system and will also target an interval that flowed more than 1,000 barrels per day in nearby testing.
A separate shallow well is also planned at the Airshagyl structure to assess a palaeochannel feature identified through seismic data.
The Yelemes Deep licence was renewed in December 2025 as an appraisal licence, requiring the drilling of three deep wells by the end of 2027 in order to qualify for a 25-year production licence.
The company also confirmed it has received independent reserve estimates for the Yelemes area under Kazakh state methodology, although these have yet to be approved by the national reserves commission.
Leave a Reply