Shares in Independent Resources (LON:IRG) plummeted by more than 25% to 57p this morning on news that the company was set to plug and abandon the unsuccessful Sidi Toui-4 exploration well on the Ksar Hadada Permit onshore Tunisia. Drilling at ST-4 got underway at the end of August as the second of a two-well programme being majority funded by Independent’s joint venture partner, PetroAsian Energy. The first well on the programme, Oryx-1, was drilled in August and also failed to find any oil.

Independent said the CTF Rig 06 had reached total depth in the ST-4 well at 1,603 metres. The well was designed and successfully drilled as a deviated wellbore through the Upper Ordovician, penetrating 364m of the objective Bir Ben Tartar Formation at an average deviation angle of 77 degrees. Although oil and gas shows were encountered in the Bir Ben Tartar reservoir unit, evaluation of the extensive logging suite acquired in the Ordovician section indicates that the oil saturation and reservoir fracturation is insufficient at the ST-4 location to justify fracture stimulation and testing of this well bore.

The well will now be plugged and abandoned, without testing, and the CTF Rig 06 will be demobilized. PetroAsian is committed to finance all of the joint venture's work commitments in the current programme, including the drilling of the two wells, up to US$14.5m. On current best estimates, IRG expects to have to make a modest contribution to the overall cost of this two well exploration programme, of the order of US$185,000.

Independent’s executive chairman, Grayson Nash, said: “The ST-4 well had its share of operational difficulties and delays and this makes its outcome even more disappointing. However the extensive logging data collected in this well will now be used to analyze the remaining prospect inventory on the Ksar Hadada block. The joint venture will review all the data collected from the ST-4 and Oryx wells before making a decision on whether to extend operations on the block.”

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