Hurricane Energy PLC (LON:HUR) has spudded the Lincoln Crestal well in the Greater Warwick Area, which lies about 100km off the west coast of the Shetland Islands.
The well was spudded – the start of the drilling process – using the Transocean Leader rig, which recently completed work to plug and abandon the Warwick Deep well.
Lincoln Crestal is the second in a three-well programme designed to further test Hurricane’s assets in the Greater Warwick Area, in which Hurricane has a 50% interest following Spirit Energy’s farm-in last September.
Earlier this month, chief executive Robert Trice said this well is now the “preferred candidate” to tie back to the Aoka Mizu floating production storage and offloading vessel, which is stationed in the Lancaster field.
READ: Hurricane jumps as it plays down impact of Warwick Deep disappointment
News of the spudding comes a day after the £1.1bn company upped its production guidance slightly for 2020.
The company had always targeted 17,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) from next year, but “based on the many positive indications seen to date”, there is the potential for production to head up towards 20,000 bopd.
Bosses also reassured investors that the recent disappointment of the Warwick Deep well has no impact on its other assets nearby.
“We have evidence that suggests to Hurricane that the result at Warwick Deep does not have negative read-across to Lancaster or Lincoln,” Hurricane said on Thursday.
Shares were up again on Friday morning, climbing 3.3% to 55.4p.