Predator Oil & Gas Holdings (LSE:PRD), the small-cap with producing and exploration assets in Trinidad and Morocco, has awarded the civil engineering contract for its Snowcap-3 well site.
Site works to prepare the drilling location and production facility area for Star Valley Rig 205 will start immediately.
The well will be drilled vertically to approximately 5,450 feet measured depth, taking around 20 days, followed by an extensive testing programme once wireline logs are evaluated.
The drilling plan has been submitted for regulatory approval, with casing strategy revised to set and protect the primary target, the Herrera #8 Sand.
It will then proceed to drilling into the secondary target, Herrera #1 Sand, which pre-drill forecasts suggest may be over-pressured.
The Herrera #8 Sand flowed light oil at up to 1,574 barrels of oil per day (bopd) from a six-foot interval when tested by the Snowcap-1 well in 2011 on the same structure; Snowcap-3 is targeting a significantly thicker interval.
The Herrera #1 Sand tested at 312 bopd from a seventeen-foot interval in the Rochard-1 well in 1955, drilled at the oil-water contact, whereas Snowcap-3 will penetrate the sand well above that contact.
"We are the only company onshore Trinidad and Morocco with potentially low to moderate risk, high impact, drilling programmes this year," chief executive Paul Griffiths said.
He added drilling and testing in Morocco, where civil works for the MOU-6 location are under way, and Trinidad are expected to be completed by early November.
News Intelligence what this means for the company
Predator Oil & Gas has contracted NABI Construction to prepare the Snowcap-3 drilling site in Trinidad, with site works starting immediately ahead of spudding by Star Valley Rig 205. The company has revised the well's casing strategy to isolate and protect the primary Herrera #8 Sand—which flowed 1,574 bopd in a thin 2011 test on the same structure—before drilling into a potentially over-pressured secondary sand; Snowcap-3 targets a significantly thicker Herrera #8 interval. The drilling programme is under regulatory review, with both Trinidad and Morocco operations expected to complete by early November.
The contract award and immediate site mobilisation confirm Predator is advancing toward drilling after securing capital via its May 2026 placing. The revised casing strategy signals prudent risk management around the over-pressured secondary sand, but execution risk remains: the well is forecast to take ~20 days to drill to 5,450 feet, followed by extensive testing, with no production timeline disclosed.
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