Serica Energy (LON: SQZ) has quadrupled production from a 24-year-old BP well in the North Sea.
The intervention campaign on the Bruce M1 well saw it re-entered for the first time since 1998, when the namesake asset was operated by BP.
Serica has now completed work on that well, boosting production rates from 400 barrels of oil equivalent per day to over 1,800 boe/d in July 2022.
A similar intervention has also been carried out on a second well – Bruce M4 – with rates increasing from around 450 boe/d to more than 2,400 boe/d.
Serica said these results are on the upper end of expectations, and the company believes there will be an uplift in its independently assessed reserves.
The programme has also “increased confidence that further uplift can be achieved” from future well interventions.
Serica released the a flurry of news announcements in an operations update today, which comes as it has been attempting to bat back a reverse takeover attempt from smaller rival Kistos.
Kistos’ bid has been deemed as undervaluing the company, while similar reasons have been made by Kistos for rejecting a Serica counter-bid.
Serica made no mention of the Kistos bid in today’s operations update.
After a 14% surge on the back of the Kistos announcement on July 12, shares in London-listed Serica are down 6% over the last five days to £3.32.
Columbus and North Eigg
Elsewhere, Serica Energy said its new Columbus well, a tieback to the Shell Shearwater platform, has reached the milestone of producing one million barrels of oil equivalent (gross).
The company again also pointed to the potential of its North Eigg exploration target, estimated to contain 60 million barrels of oil equivalent and potentially as much as 236m.
Results from the exploration well are due in October.
CEO Mitch Flegg said: “Serica has no debt, limited decommissioning liabilities and with growing cash reserves is well positioned to continue to invest in further projects and other opportunities to add shareholder value.
“We have just completed a well intervention campaign on Bruce that has boosted net production by over 3,000 boe/d and provides further evidence of the value in Serica’s assets that can be realised through measured and expert operatorship.
“Operations have also commenced on the North Eigg exploration well with potential for transformational results, while we are now accelerating further well intervention work on Bruce and Keith following the success of the recently completed campaign.”