Rialto Updates Drilling Operations at Gazelle-P3 Well

Rialto Energy Limited provides the following weekly update on drilling operations at the Gazelle-P3 Well as at 06:00hrs, 9 April 2012 (GMT). The Gazelle-P3 well was spudded on 12 March 2012 using the Transocean GSF Monitor jack-up drilling rig. The well is the first of an overall three well drilling programme on CI-202 that is anticipated to take six months to complete, together with testing.

The well has been drilled to a depth of 1070m, at which point the drill-pipe became stuck. During the process of trying to free the drill-pipe, mechanical problems with the rig equipment occurred which have since been rectified by the drilling contractor, Transocean. Operations are currently underway to free the stuck drill pipe.

Commenting on the drilling progress, Charlie Nieto, Chief Operating Officer, said:

“We have made real progress, having rectified the rig equipment failures during the last week. Fishing operations started over the weekend with resumption of drilling expected in the next few days."

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