Neptune Petroleum (Uganda) Limited (Neptune), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Tower Resources plc, has completed operations on the Avivi-1 exploration well in Uganda Licence EA5. The well was plugged and abandoned and the rig released at 6am on 27th February.

The well, which was drilled to a total depth of 764 metres, did not encounter oil, despite persistent methane gas traces, and tested water from the target reservoir interval using a wireline fluid sampler. Electric logging confirmed the absence of oil and gas. Although the well failed to encounter hydrocarbons, valuable and encouraging information was gained, which, together with the information from Iti-1, will allow a much greater understanding of the Licence. Within the next few weeks, the Tower Board will consider whether it intends to apply to continue into the Third (and final) Exploration Period of two years. When that decision has been made, a more complete account of the programme to date will be given.

Tower's Chairman, Peter Kingston, commented, "A second dry hole in EA5 is disappointing. However, this is a very large Licence and the failure to encounter commercial oil or gas reserves with the first two wells does not necessarily diminish the License's prospectivity. As soon as the analysis of the information we have gained has been completed, and a decision has been made regarding the Third Exploration Period, we will provide a fuller statement on the Avivi-1 well results."

Tags: Tower Resources plc