Empyrean Energy Plc announced that it has awarded an Integrated Drilling Contract for the drilling of the Jade prospect exploration well on Block 29/11, offshore China, to China Oilfield Services Limited ('COSL'). Empyrean is the operator of Block 29/11 in China and has 100% working interest during the exploration phase. In the event of a commercial discovery, its partner, China National Offshore Oil Company ('CNOOC'), may assume a 51% participating interest in the development and production phase. As part of the award process, the Company and COSL have agreed all technical, commercial and contractual terms and COSL has confirmed rig availability and a target spud date of 15 December to 30 December 2021 for the Jade Prospect. A condition of the award is that Empyrean and COSL have now agreed that there will be no further exceptions, qualifications or deviations to the technical, commercial and contractual terms and conditions ahead of signing the IDC. The Drilling Program and Geological Program are the only remaining items to be incorporated into the IDC and are procedural in nature. CNOOC approval was sought and provided ahead of the award of the IDC and all parties are aligned in the targeted timing to drill the Jade Prospect in mid to late December. As announced on 23 April 2021, Empyrean appointed AGR to complete a comprehensive well design and engineering project for the Jade Prospect. Empyrean then elected, based on AGR's analysis and recommendation, to use a four-string casing design for the drilling of the Jade Prospect. The Company had previously been quoted USD 18.5 million to drill the Jade well with testing of any oil column to be in addition to this amount. Following the well engineering and design work completed with AGR, the Company has been working diligently with COSL towards securing a rig and finalising costs for the well. To this end, the parties have reached agreement on a substantially reduced turnkey quote for the drilling of the Jade Prospect of USD 12.3 million on a dry hole basis, an approximate 34% saving on the initial quote. On a success basis, testing of any oil column has been quoted at USD 7.4 million. The substantially reduced drilling contract quote has been reached without compromising the well design, safety or operational efficiency of the proposed well. The Company is making good progress on other drill preparations including preparation of the Drilling Program, Geological Program, Well Site Survey and various pre-drilling permits. The 2021 drilling campaign is targeting a world class conventional oil target in the Jade Prospect, to which Gaffney Cline & Associates ('GCA') assigned a Geological Chance of Success ('GCoS') of 32%. Subsequent to this independent assessment, the Company completed a gas cloud study and post stack seismic inversion study that it believes further mitigates risk and increases the GCoS to 41%. The Jade Prospect has a GCA audited mean in place potential of 225 MMbbl and a P10 in place upside of 395 MMbbl. Four recent nearby discoveries by CNOOC immediately to the West of the Jade Prospect are filled to their P10 potential or better. All four CNOOC discoveries have gas clouds showing in the overburden on seismic.