Rig contract and timeline
Predator Oil & Gas Holdings, the Jersey-based operator active in Trinidad and Morocco, has contracted Rig 205 from Star Valley Drilling (Trinidad) Limited to drill the Snowcap-3 well, known as SC-3, in Trinidad. Drilling and well testing at SC-3 will begin once the company finishes its MOU-6 well in Morocco. Predator said the sequencing lets its management team focus on one jurisdiction's operations at a time.
Target: the Herrera #8 Sand
SC-3's main target is the Herrera #8 Sand. An oil column is the vertical thickness of oil-bearing rock above the point where oil gives way to water; a thicker column generally points to more oil in place. Predator's pre-drill forecast puts SC-3's oil column in the Herrera #8 Sand about 170 feet above the oil already found in the nearby Rochard-1 well. The well will also test the Herrera #1 Sand as a secondary target, expected to sit about 200 feet above the oil-water contact recorded in Rochard-1.
The forecast draws on work done earlier this year, when Predator measured oil fluid level and reservoir pressure at the Snowcap-2ST1 well and assayed a light oil sample there. Combined with new 3D seismic data and a revised bottom-hole position for the Herrera #8 Sand in the deviated Snowcap-1 well, that work points to an extrapolated oil column of 600 feet across the Snowcap-2ST-1, Snowcap-1 and Rochard-1 wells.
CEO's update
Chief executive Paul Griffiths said preparations for both drilling programs are advancing well, pointing to signed rig contracts, environmental approvals already granted, civil engineering underway at the drill and production sites, and drilling programs submitted to regulators for approval. He said well services contractors have been picked and well inventory is being gathered at both sites. Griffiths said the company is confident in the drilling programs and is already planning its next stage of project development.
Other projects in the pipeline
Griffiths also pointed to two early-stage opportunities. In Trinidad, Predator is considering whether surplus wellhead gas from its Cory Moruga operation could generate onsite electricity for hydrogen fuel cells, replacing the site's reliance on LPG, and for data centers; he said initial approaches have been made but it is too early to know if a workable business model will come of it. Separately, Predator is in early discussions with an entity with experience analysing and producing biogenic gas in Romania, aimed at a technical collaboration to evaluate "semi-conventional" gas potential in Morocco, an area the company has flagged before. Griffiths said the MOU-6 well is expected to produce wireline logs and pressure data that could feed into that assessment.
