Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) has drilled its North Sea Skipper field in the face of “operational challenges”.
IOG said an early re-spud of the well had to be carried out and that a force 10 gale held up operations for two and a half days.
IOG said the cost of the delays would be met in the short term by its existing loan facilities with London Oil and Gas.
Other costs are being deferred until the end of 2017, an IOG spokesperson said.
Samples from the well, which was drilled to 3,860ft, have been sent to Aberdeen for analysis, with testing slated for completion next month.
Preliminary analysis showed the oil’s viscosity was better than assumed in the 2013 Competent Persons Report.
IOG chief executive Mark Routh said: “The initial data acquired from the Skipper well, our first operated well, is an excellent result for IOG and operations proceed without any reported safety incidents.
“By retrieving the oil samples, the primary well objectives have been fulfilled and we have proved that the oil is moving in the Skipper reservoir. This is a significant step for IOG towards achieving the target of being a company with 100 MMBOE heading for development, in assets 100% owned as operator.
“I am immensely proud of the IOG team and extremely grateful for the co-operation and support from all of the contractors involved. The support of our financial backers is of course crucial and it is very satisfying to achieve our preliminary objectives which in turn repays their trust in the management team and our strategy.
“We now move on to drill the exploration prospects, where any further oil discoveries would provide additional upside and look forward to analysing the results in order to progress the Skipper field development plan as soon as possible, in parallel with our exciting gas assets in the southern North Sea.”
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