The core hole in the company’s Ashvaz project in the country’s south west has passed through Bed V, its first target, and is heading towards the next target in Bed VII at 660m.

The core hole is being drilled to enable the planning of a horizontal underbalanced production well. Bed Va at 628m was 1.6m thick and oil saturated while Bed Vb was 7.5m thick from which the core was also saturated.

“The results are very positive, although the wireline logs will be critical once we reach total depth, but at the moment the cores have good porosity,” said Afminex director Colin Carson.

“Bed VII a & b are the main producing beds in the structure so really the Bed V results are an added bonus.”

Electric logs will be run after the target depth is reached and the cores submitted for analysis. Previous wells drilled in the structure have returned oil from beds V and VII, with flow rates in excess of 100 barrels per day.

Afminex has a 50% interest in seven project areas in the republic, all within the Fergana Basin.