Salinas yesterday said the Ensign 508 rig is now being rigged up at site and drilling is expected to start in the next few days.

The field, in the Salinas Basin, is currently producing via temporary facilities at 80 barrels of oil per day from one vertical producer.

The company said the program will consist of three to four wells including two further appraisal wells to define the extent of the oil field and at least one horizontal production well.

Depending on results, the vertical wells may then be completed as production wells.

Salinas said it is also fabricating and awarding contracts for permanent production facilities, much of which will be installed and in operation by June.

Those facilities include a steam injection unit and other equipment necessary to optimise flow potential from the heavy crude present in the Lombardi Sand oil reservoir, it said.

“Salinas expects to substantially increase oil production and book proved and probable reserves across the field as a result of completion of this first stage of development,” the company said.

The first well in the program, the Lombardi 3-27 vertical appraisal well, is due to be finished in two weeks. It is designed to verify whether a northern extension of the oil field is present.