Horizon Oil (ASX:HZN) has announced the start of its 2025 infill drilling operation in Block 22/12, Beibu Gulf, China.
The operation is being carried out using a COSL-owned drilling rig, which has been mobilised to the WZ12-8W platform for a one-well campaign.
The well was spudded on April 28, with recovery from this well currently classified as contingent resources, expected to be reclassified as reserves in Horizon's June 30 reserves report.
This well aims to recover incremental oil from an existing field, targeting a nearby offset from current producers.
The one-well program is forecast to yield an additional 0.4 million barrels of gross oil (Horizon net 0.1 million barrels), with a production rate of 500 barrels of oil per day (gross), or 125 barrels per day net to Horizon.
The operation, managed by CNOOC, is expected to last approximately 30 days.
Horizon CEO Richard Beament stated, "We are pleased to be targeting additional production growth from Block 22/12. This drilling operation reinforces our commitment to investing in production expansion within one of our foundation assets and at the same time developing our substantial inventory of contingent resources."
At the time of reporting, Horizon Oil's share price was $0.18.