Caspian Sunrise (AIM:CASP) has announced an expanded drilling programme at its BNG Contract Area in Kazakhstan, committing to three additional deep wells at the Yelemes structure on top of ongoing work at Deep Well 803.
The expansion follows encouraging progress at Deep Well 803, which has been deepened to 3,927 metres and previously produced oil under test from a Lower Triassic sandstone reservoir at depths between 3,349 and 3,380 metres.
Deep Wells 701 and 707 are expected to spud in July 2026, with a fourth well, Deep Well 703, scheduled for the second half of 2026 as rig availability permits.
The deepest planned well, Deep Well 701, will target Permian and Carboniferous reservoirs to a depth of 5,000 metres, assessing intervals where earlier testing at Deep Well 801 recorded oil flow of approximately 107 barrels per day, and where Deep Well 802 produced at rates between approximately 1,088 and 1,132 barrels per day from the Lower Permian P1 interval.
The expanded programme also fulfils part of an obligation to drill three deep wells before end-2027, required under the appraisal licence renewed in December 2025, to qualify for a 25-year production licence application.
Alongside the drilling update, an independent Kazakh institute, SciRes, has prepared reserve estimates for the Yelemes area under Kazakhstan's statutory classification system, covering three reservoir horizons: Lower Triassic, Lower Permian and Middle Carboniferous Moscovian.
The estimates have not yet been approved by the State Commission on Mineral Reserves and remain subject to revision pending further drilling, logging and testing data.
