Jersey, Channel Islands, 3 April 2023 — Serinus Energy plc (“Serinus” or the “Company”)
(AIM:SENX, WSE:SEN) announces that, in consultation with its partner ETAP, the Company will
suspend workover operations at the W-1 well at the Sabria field in Tunisia while options for its completion
are assessed. The rig will now move to the N-2 well to proceed with the recompletion of this well.
As previously announced the rig did not meet the Company’s certification requirements and operations
were delayed pending that certification. Subsequent to the rig achieving certification the CTF-004 rig
and crew have performed well and the rig experienced no material downtime. The workover initially
progressed very well with two of three tubing strings being successfully removed to a depth of 3,433
metres. However unexpected conditions were subsequently encountered in the wellbore as a result of
old drilling mud and tubulars left in the well from operations in 1998 which impeded progress with the
removal of the final 1.5 inch coiled tubing below a depth of 2,889 metres. More than 85% of the 1.5 inch
tubing was recovered, however an excess layer of old debris and drilling mud prevented the removal of
further 1.5 inch tubing. The Company and its partner, ETAP, have reviewed the progress and
determined that the workover will be suspended pending investigations of alternative means of
completing the programme. Sabria production has remained constant and uninterrupted during the
workover program.
In the meantime, the Company and its partner have elected to proceed with operations on the Sabria N2 well to perform a workover to recomplete the well. This well was drilled in 1980 but was damaged
during completion and, although in proximity to producing wells, was not able to flow oil to surface due
to damage during completion. The workover program is designed to recomplete the well and remove
any wellbore restrictions.
Whilst conducting the N-2 workover the Company will consider all options to complete the W-1 pump
installation. These options include a side-track and should this option be selected, the Company will
begin side-track design and the procurement of long lead items. The Company intends to return to the
W-1 well and finalise the installation of the downhole pump further to these investigations.
Sabria is a large, conventional oilfield which the Company’s independent reservoir engineers have
estimated to have approximately 445 million barrels of oil-originally-in-place. Of this oil-in-place only
1.0% has been produced to date due to a low rate of development on the field. The installation of
artificial lift in the Sabria wells and the recompletion of the N-2 well is expected to result in a material
increase in Sabria oil and gas production.
