REG - Prospex Energy PLC - Viura Field Update

Prospex EnergyAnnouncement

Tue 07:00

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RNS Number : 5079G  Prospex Energy PLC  29 April 2025

Prospex Energy plc / Index: AIM / Epic: PXEN / Sector: Oil and Gas

 

29 April 2025

 

Prospex Energy plc

("Prospex" or the "Company")

 

Viura Field Update

 

Prospex Energy plc (AIM: PXEN), the AIM quoted investing company focused on
European gas and power projects, wishes to inform shareholders that it has
been advised by the Operator of the Viura field, HEYCO Energia Iberia S.L.
 ("HEI" or the "Operator"), of the temporary cessation of production of the
new Viura-1B well due to a leak in the completion tubing.  The Operator is
sourcing the necessary equipment including mobilising a suitable drill rig to
perform the workover with the aim of reinstating production from the field by
mid-June 2025.  Although this is a temporary halt to production, it will have
an impact on the stated schedule for drilling the development wells, which is
now anticipated to take place next year.

 

Prospex owns 7.24% of the Viura field through its ownership of 7.5% of HEYCO
Energy Iberia S.L. ("HEI" or the "Operator").  Prospex is accruing 14.47% of
the production income from the Viura gas field until payback of its capital
investment (expected to be ≈£8 million) plus the accrued 10% p.a. interest
thereon.

 

Mark Routh, Prospex's CEO, commented:

"This is an unfortunate temporary cessation of production at Viura while the
operator mobilises the necessary equipment to carry out the required
interventions and workovers to re-establish stable gas production from the
Viura gas field.

"It is important to re-establish stable gas rates from Viura before the
drilling of the new development wells commences in order to optimise the
financing options for phase 2 of the development drilling campaign.  We have
every confidence in the Operator, who can access state-of-the-art technologies
and expertise both in country and from the USA, to deliver the optimum outcome
of the workover interventions and more importantly the future development well
drilling.  One benefit arising from the disruption to production at the field
and the resultant delay to the development drilling it is that it provides
Prospex with more time to generate cash from its other producing assets and
fund our share of expenditure at Viura reducing the need to source additional
funding from the market.

"I will keep shareholders updated with regular progress reports as the well
interventions proceed."

 

Background

The Viura-1B well is currently not in production and was shut in during
April-2025 owing to a leak in the completion tubing which requires a rig
intervention to reinstate production.  The Operator is now sourcing the
necessary equipment including mobilising a suitable drilling rig in order to
perform the workover by mid-June 2025.

Total natural gas produced from the Viura-1B well from start-up in December
2024 to the end of Q1-2025 was 0.528 Bcm = 18.6 Bcf which is 77 Bcm = 2.7 Bcf
net to Prospex.

Whilst the rig is on site in June-2025 the Operator also plans a workover on
the original producing well, Viura‑1ST3 which is not currently in
production.  The Viura‑1ST3 workover is in order to shut off a water zone
to prevent produced water ingress from deeper in the reservoir flowing to the
top producing zones in the new well Viura-1B.  Decreasing water production
into the processing plant will reduce operational costs.  Following this
workover the Viura‑1ST3 well will not produce gas without further
intervention.  As advised in the RNS of 8 April 2025, the Viura-3 water
injection well is capped and suspended as it has been deemed unsuitable for
water injection.

As a result of these necessary workovers, the schedule of drilling the Phase 2
wells Viura-3A and Viura‑3B has been pushed back to 2026.  This will allow
further time for the Operator to procure the necessary equipment and to
optimise the 3D seismic reprocessing and reinterpretation to fine-tune the
subsurface well locations of these development wells.

The Operator will recommence negotiations with the syndicate of banks to
provide debt-finance towards the cost of drilling the development wells upon
the resumption of production from well Viura‑1B.

The Operator is also planning to test in Q1-2026 the hitherto untested
Utrillas-B reservoir, which sits below the main Utrillas-A reservoir horizon
and which was identified as containing the presence of gas bearing reservoir
quality sandstones in December 2024.

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended by virtue of the Market
Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

 

* * ENDS * *

 

For further information visit www.prospex.energy (http://www.prospex.energy)
or contact the following:

 

 Mark Routh                        Prospex Energy PLC            Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177
 Ritchie Balmer                    Strand Hanson Limited         Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 3494

Rory Murphy
 Andrew Monk (Corporate Broking)   VSA Capital Limited           Tel: +44 (0) 20 3005 5000

Andrew Raca (Corporate Finance)
 Neil Passmore                     Hannam & Partners             Tel: +44 (0) 20 7907 8500

 Leif Powis
 Ana Ribeiro / Charlotte Page      St Brides Partners Limited    Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177

 

Notes

Prospex Energy PLC is an AIM quoted investment company focussed on high impact
onshore and shallow offshore European opportunities with short timelines to
production.  The Company's strategy is to acquire undervalued projects with
multiple, tangible value trigger points that can be realised within 12 months
of acquisition and then applying low-cost re-evaluation techniques to identify
and de-risk prospects.  The Company will rapidly scale up gas production in
the short term to generate internal revenues that can then be deployed to
develop the asset base and increase production further.

 

Qualified Person Signoff

In accordance with the AIM note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, the
Company discloses that Mark Routh, the CEO and a director of Prospex Energy
plc has reviewed the technical information contained herein.  Mark Routh has
an MSc in Petroleum Engineering and has been a member of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers since 1985.  He has more than 40 years of operating
experience in the upstream oil and gas industry.  Mark Routh consents to the
inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

Glossary:

Bcf                        Billion standard cubic feet

Bcm                     Billion standard cubic metres

Boe                      Barrels of Oil Equivalent (where 1 MMBoe =
5.8 Bcf)

MMBoe                Million Barrels of Oil Equivalent

mcf                      Thousand standard cubic feet

MMscfd               Million standard cubic feet per day

MMscm               Million standard cubic metres

MMscm/d            Million standard cubic metres per day

MWh                   Mega Watt hour

scm                    Standard cubic metres

scm/d                 Standard cubic metres per day

TTF                    The 'Title Transfer Facility' - a virtual
trading point for natural gas in the Netherlands.

 

 

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