Beacon Energy today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Rhein Petroleum GmbH, has contracted a fully-crewed drilling rig from RED Drilling & Services for the planned Schwarzbach-2 ("SCHB-2") development well within the Erfelden Field, onshore South West Germany.

The rig is expected to mobilise in early-June 2023 targeting a mid-June spud. Drilling operations are expected to take 25 days to reach the prognosed TD drilling depth of 2255m (1709m True Vertical Depth), with an additional 12 days scheduled for testing. The drilling pad has been prepared and the 20" conductor pipe has been set at 85 metres.

It is anticipated that once completed, the SCHB-2 well will be tied-in to existing production facilities at the Schwarzbach site which will take approximately 12 days to complete.

Larry Bottomley, Chief Executive Officer of Beacon Energy, commented :
"I am delighted that we have been able to secure this high quality rig so swiftly after completing our  acquisition of Rhein Petroleum and readmission on to AIM. This well is the first of potentially four development wells to be drilled at Erfelden over the next 2 years and is the next step in delivering the self-funding business model created by the acquisition of Rhein Petroleum.

To re-emphasise the highly value accretive nature of the transaction we recently concluded with Rhein Petroleum, the funds we raised to complete the deal will be used to drill SCHB-2 well which represents a material value catalyst for Beacon. In the success case, this well will deliver a step-change in production and cashflow which will enable the Company to fund further value enhancing activity across the portfolio. We look forward to providing further updates on SCHB-2 as we near the spudding of the well in the coming months."