Beacon Energy, the full-cycle oil and gas company with a portfolio of production, development, appraisal and exploration onshore German assets through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Rhein Petroleum, announces an update on the Schwarzbach-2 ("SCHB-2") drilling operations which spudded 19 June 2023.

Rhein Petroleum has performed a successful recovery or 'fishing' operation in the SCHB-2 well to free a directional drilling assembly stuck in the 12¼" hole section and has returned it safely back to surface.

The stuck pipe incident occurred after the well had made good progress, reaching a drilled depth 100m above the first target which remains untested. The operations team will now clean out the 12¼" hole section before continuing with drilling to the target reservoirs.

The Company expects to provide a further update on the progress of drilling operations during the course of next week.

Beacon Energy Chief Executive Officer, Larry Bottomley commented:
"Clearly this is an unfortunate development that has caused a delay in delivering the SCHB-2 development well, however we see a minor impact to the overall costs of the well relative to its upside potential in the success case. These unavoidable challenges are common when drilling and it has been our focus to ensure it was resolved in a safe, rapid and cost-efficient manner.

"We are very pleased with the exemplary performance of the operating team in Rhein Petroleum, who have moved swiftly to resolve the situation so we can continue to focus on delivering the objectives of this well.

"We had made good progress with the drill up to this point, with the situation occurring just above the first target zone, with all shallower horizons being on prognosis and the well encountering the expected increase in background hydrocarbon gas as the drill bit got closer to that target.  The operations team are fully focused on drilling to TD and we will update the market on the results of these efforts."

KeyFacts Energy: Beacon Energy