Fastnet Oil & Gas’s partner and operator in the Foum Assaka area, offshore Morocco, Kosmos Energy Deepwater Morocco, has confirmed that the FA-1 well, located within the Foum Assaka area on the Eagle Prospect, spudded on March 16 2014.

Fastnet holds its interest in the Foum Assaka licence area through its wholly owned subsidiary Pathfinder Hydrocarbon Ventures Limited.

As previously announced, the planned target depth (“TD”) is 4,000 metres in water depth of approximately 600 metres. The well is expected to take up to three months to reach TD and test multiple objectives. The FA-1 well is estimated by the operator, Kosmos, to contain 360 mmboe of Pmean resources in its primary deepwater Lower Cretaceous reservoir objective. Fastnet is carried through its share of the drilling costs, subject to a gross maximum well cost of US$100 million, following the previously announced farm-out to SK Innovation, retaining a 9.375% net interest in the licence.

Commenting, Paul Griffiths, Managing Director of Fastnet, said: “We are delighted that drilling has commenced on schedule on the Eagle Prospect. The results from the FA-1 well will allow us to further evaluate and potentially de-risk the varied and near-term drilling targets in the Foum Assaka Licence where we and our partners see significant potential upside.”