LONDON�Dragon Oil PLC of the UK said Tuesday it had spudded the first of three planned wells on the Lam field off Turkmenistan in the eastern Caspian Sea after a delay of 3 months.
The company said there may be resources of 600 million bbl of oil and 2.2 trillion cu m of gas on the Chelekan block, according to a report from the news agency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Dragon is producing 7,500 b/d from 17 wells on the block.
The three wells will be the first on the block in more than 10 years. Funding came from a credit agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 1999, when Dragon became active in Turkmenistan.
Last October, drilling of the first well on Lam was postponed after the rig's derrick was damaged during assembly.
Dragon's shares are listed on both the London and Dublin stock exchanges, but its primary shareholder is the Emirates National Oil Co., which bought 69.4% of the oil company in 1999.
