Spudded a week ago, the well has already been cased to a depth of 455m and has had the blow-out preventer stack fitted and tested.

Blackwood-1 is expected to reach its primary reservoir objective, the Top Plover Formation, at a depth of 3351m. It has a planned total depth of 3454m.

MEO, which is drilling Blackwood-1 on a sole-risk basis, said the well aimed to determine whether the Plover Formation contains commercial gas-condensate at this location. Recoverable resources are estimated to be between 1-1.8 trillion cubic feet.

“In a success case, the full Plover Formation will be drilled to the interpreted structural spill point to confirm a gas-water contact,” the company said.

“While no production tests are planned for the Plover Formation, a full log suite will be acquired including image logs, rotary side-wall core samples obtained, and hydrocarbon samples and pore pressure data will be recovered by modular dynamics testing.”