Petro Matad tumbles after Wild Horse proves dry

Mongolia-focussed oil and gas outfit Petro Matad plummeted on Monday after its Wild Horse well failed to find hydrocarbons.

The well, which follows the disappointment of the snow leopard exploration well in September, had been drilled down to a depth of 1,490 metres in the Baatsagaan Basin and encountered interbedded sands and shales within pre-drill prognosis, but no oil shows were observed in the well.

Mike Buck, chief executive of Petro Matad, said: "The Wild Horse 1 result is clearly disappointing, but this was too big a structure to leave undrilled. We will use the data gathered to re-evaluate the Baatsagaan Basin and to look again at the prospectivity in the other basins in Block IV."

Meanwhile, the Wild Horse is to be plugged and abandoned, while the rig and drill crew will pause until the planned 2019 well campaign.

"As we are fully-funded for the 2019 drilling programme, we are now in the process of identifying our priority targets. In Block V, our post-well analysis has highlighted three, four-way dip closed structures with large resource potential which we are working up to drillable status and we are also using Snow Leopard 1 data to calibrate the prospectivity in the neighbouring Tugrug Basin, including the high-graded Fox prospect," said Buck.

Buck added that preparations for next year’s drilling operations are advanced and will focus on near field and appraisal targets.

Petro Matad’s shares were down 41.18% at 3.00p at 0951 GMT.