Touchstone Exploration Inc’s first quarter in-line with expectations as Ortoire
“Our priority is to bring our Coho and two Cascadura wells onto production as soon as possible while also drilling Royston-1,” said chief executive Paul Baay
(LON:TXP, ) confirmed its first-quarter results in-line with expectations as sales averaged 1,297 barrels per day and it advanced high-priority testing of wells in the Ortoire block.
Bringing the more prolific Ortoire wells to production has been the company’s focus, as it positions itself as a natural gas producer.
The wells were drilled in the fourth quarter of 2020 and in the first quarter of 2021 the company carried out production testing of the Chinook-1 and Cascadura Deep-1, along with preparations for new drilling.
As announced recently, the Cascadura Deep well tested with a peak rate of 4,567 barrels oil equivalent per day.
“We proceeded with many aspects of the Ortoire exploration program, highlighted by testing the Chinook-1 and Cascadura Deep-1 prospects,” said Paul Baay, Touchstone chief executive.
“While the results at Chinook showed evidence of light oil rather than natural gas, we were excited to identify a large distinct, separate sheet of natural gas at Cascadura Deep-1 to sit alongside the already significant find made at Cascadura-1ST1.”
“Our priority is to bring our Coho and two Cascadura wells onto production as soon as possible while also drilling Royston-1, our final Ortoire licence commitment well.”
In terms of its financial results, the company said it recognised a US$460,000 net less for the quarter, versus a US$9.24mln loss for this period last year.
The company noted it saw an operating netback of $21.98 per barrel on its production, which represents the highest netback since Q4 2019.
It highlighted that financial flexibility was maintained, as it ended the quarter with US$15.45mln of cash with a US$10.5mln working capital balance. Some US$7.5mln has been drawn of the company’s US$20mln credit facility.
Additionally, the company said that its business continuity plans remained effective across its locations in response to COVID-19, with minimal health and safety impacts or disruptions to operations.
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