This announcement contains inside information

5 September 2023

88 Energy Limited

HICKORY-1 WELL FLOW TEST - RIG CONTRACT EXECUTED

Highlights

·   Rig contract executed for Hickory-1 exploration well flow test at Project Phoenix

·   Multiple hydrocarbon-bearing pay zones to be flow tested, with final program design underway

·   Hickory-1 well targeting 647 million barrels of oil^1,2

·   Post-well analysis of cores, mud gas isotubes and wireline data ongoing, with encouraging initial results demonstrating good correlation to migration and thermal maturity models

·   Planning and permitting for the flow test on schedule with operations set to commence as early as possible in the upcoming Alaskan winter operational season

88 Energy Limited (ASX:88E, AIM:88E, OTC:EEENF) (88 Energy or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has executed a rig contract with All American Oilfield (AAO) for the use of Rig-111 to flow test the Hickory-1 well on the Alaskan North Slope.

Managing Director and CEO, Ashley Gilbert, commented:

"The execution of a rig contract is another important step as we advance towards the Hickory-1 well flow testing program planned for the 2023/2024 Alaskan winter operational season.

"We continue to be very encouraged by progress by our northern neighbour, Pantheon Resources, who recently announced a material, independently estimated, 2C contingent resource for the Lower Basin Floor Fan reservoir.³

"The Basin Floor Fan reservoir was the deepest of the multiple hydrocarbon-bearing pay zones intersected as part of the Hickory-1 exploration well. This reservoir, along with our primary, high-priority SMD, Upper SFS and SFS targets, is planned to be flow tested as part of the upcoming program.

"We look forward to updating shareholders as we progress to the completion of permitting and planning activities before mobilising to the well site as soon as Alaskan seasonal conditions permit."

¹ Cautionary Statement: The estimated quantities of petroleum that may be potentially recovered by the application of a future development project relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration, appraisal and evaluation are required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially movable hydrocarbons.

² Mean unrisked resource - Net Entitlement to 88 Energy. Refer announcement released to ASX on 23 August 2022. Resources estimated pre-Hickory-1 drilling.

³ Refer Pantheon Resources plc (AIM: PANR) press release dated 29 August 2023 (https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/pantheon_resources/news/rns/story/rmvz29r) which reported 2C estimates (best estimates) of oil and natural gas liquids ("NGLs"), and  total  barrels of estimated marketable liquids. There is no guarantee that Pantheon's results will be reflected in the results of the Company's upcoming flow test. The proximity of Pantheon's leases to the Hickory-1 exploration well is shown at Figure 2 of this announcement.

Hickory-1 Flow Test Program

The Hickory-1 exploration well is currently cased and suspended ahead of the planned flow test and well stimulation program scheduled for the 2023/2024 Alaskan winter operational season. Design of the flow test and stimulation program, which is targeting multiple zones, is being undertaken in consultation with industry experts, utilising available regional information in combination with a detailed evaluation of the drilling and wireline logging data from Hickory-1.

Permitting and planning is on track and will include rigorous technical and economic optimisation with our Alaskan project manager, Fairweather, LLC. Contract negotiations and ordering of long lead items are also proceeding as planned.

Figure 1: The Hickory-1 flow test is planned to assess up to 4 zones

Hickory-1 Post Well Analysis

Post-well analysis is ongoing with results from the testing programs anticipated to be fully completed and received in Q3 2023.  The graphic below provides an overview of the planned program, and status, of post-well analysis:

About All American and Rig-111

ll American Oilfield

AAO has been operating in the Alaskan oil and gas industry since 2010.  From 2015, AAO has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Chugach Alaska Corporation (Chugach).  Founded in 1971, Chugach is an Alaska Native Corporation with over 6,000 employees operating in 150 locations.

Rig-111

Rig-111 is a highly mobile and versatile carrier mounted workover and shallow drilling rig, capable of depths up to 18,000 feet. With its recently updated mast, the rig's capabilities and mobility are well suited for the workover requirements of flow testing Hickory-1

Rig-111 was previously contracted by 88 Energy to successfully drill Merlin-1 in 2021.

This announcement has been authorised by the Board.

Media and Investor Relations

Pursuant to the requirements of the ASX Listing Rules Chapter 5 and the AIM Rules for Companies, the technical information and resource reporting contained in this announcement was prepared by, or under the supervision of, Dr Stephen Staley, who is a Non-Executive Director of the Company. Dr Staley has more than 35 years' experience in the petroleum industry, is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a qualified Geologist/Geophysicist who has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style and nature of the oil prospects under consideration and to the activities discussed in this document. Dr Staley has reviewed the information and supporting documentation referred to in this announcement and considers the resource and reserve estimates to be fairly represented and consents to its release in the form and context in which it appears. His academic qualifications and industry memberships appear on the Company's website and both comply with the criteria for "Competence" under clause 3.1 of the Valmin Code 2015. Terminology and standards adopted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers "Petroleum Resources Management System" have been applied in producing this document.

About Project Phoenix

Project Phoenix (88E 75.2% WI) is located on the central North Slope of Alaska and encompasses approximately 82,846 gross acres. It is situated on-trend to recent discoveries by Pantheon Resources Plc (LSE: PANR) in multiple, newly successful play types across top, slope and bottom-set sands of the Mid Schrader Bluff, Canning and Seabee formations. Hickory-1 results and independent mapping have demonstrated that these plays extend into the Phoenix acreage.

Project Phoenix holds an estimated unrisked conventional total of 647MMbbl of prospective oil resources (pre-drilling, mean unrisked, net to 88E), independently assessed by Lee Keeling and Associates (LKA) in Q3 2022 (see 88E ASX release dated 23 August 2022). The acreage was significantly de-risked by the recent Pantheon drilling and flow tests on their adjacent acreage to the North, coupled with data from Icewine-1 well logs (encountered 380 ft of net oil pay within SMD sands) and a modern 3D seismic data set (FB3D).

Project Phoenix is strategically located on the Dalton Highway with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline system running through the acreage providing an immediate export route and expediting future development.

Figure 2: Project Phoenix lease area, including mapped play fairways, Franklin Bluffs 3D area and planned Hickory-1 well location.

1.    These pre-drilling resources estimates are net to 88 Energy and have been calculated using a 75.227% working interest and a 16.5% royalty.

2.    The unrisked means, which have been arithmetically summed, are not representative of expected total from the prospects and implies a success case in all reservoir intervals. 88 Energy cautions that the arithmetically summed 1U estimate may be a conservative estimate and the arithmetically summed 3U estimate may be optimistic when compared to a statistical aggregation of probability distributions.

3.    COS represents the geological chance of success as assessed by 88 Energy and reviewed and endorsed by LKA. 

4.    Prospects are subject to a phase risk (oil vs gas). The pre-drilling chance of oil has been assessed as 100% for all targets except for the Kuparuk Formation which has been assessed as 70%.  Phase risk has not been applied to the unrisked numbers.

5.    The Prospective Resources have not been adjusted for the chance of development. Quantifying the chance of development (COD) requires consideration of both economic and other contingencies, such as legal, regulatory, market access, political, social license, internal and external approvals and commitment to project finance and development timing. As many of these factors are outside the knowledge of LKA they must be used with caution.

6.    Please refer to ASX announcement dated 23 August 2022 for further details in relation to the prospective resources estimate and associated risking with Phoenix.

7.    It should be noted that the prospective resources and COS values were calculated prior to the drilling of Hickory-1.

Cautionary Statement: The estimated quantities of petroleum that may potentially be recovered by the application of a future development project(s) relate to undiscovered accumulations. These estimates have both an associated risk of discovery and a risk of development. Further exploration appraisal and evaluation is required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially movable hydrocarbons.