(Alliance News) - 88 Energy Ltd on Thursday said that it has made progress in Alaska, after successfully drilling the Hickory-1 surface hole to 3,570 feet.

The Australia-based, Alaska-focused oil explorer also installed and cemented the surface casing, and successfully tested the blow out preventer system.

Nordic Calista's Rig-2 is now preparing to drill ahead, with the Hickory-1 exploration well expected to intersect the three primary Shelf Margin Delta targets, before drilling ahead into the secondary Slope Fan System and Basin Floor Fan reservoirs targets. The Kuparuk reservoir is a tertiary target and will be drilled subject to remaining time in the season, borehole conditions and other technical considerations.

88 Energy expects the primary and secondary target zones to be intersected within the next two weeks. After that, it will decide whether to drill ahead to the tertiary target and reaching permitted total depth of 12,500 feet.

88 Energy shares were trading 6.5% lower at 0.60 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News reporter

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