Anzon said the rig would drill each section of the three development wells sequentially. At this point, the conductor has been set and cemented on each of the wells and the surface hole of Basker-3 is being drilled, the company said.

Once the Basker-3 surface hole is cased and cemented, the surface hole of the other two wells will be drilled.

Anzon said this approach was possible because the rig anchor pattern has been established in such a way that the rig does not need to be moored at separate locations for each of the wells.

The company also said the Manta-2A well has been cased and suspended as a producer, after flowing 6370 barrels of oil on test last month.

Meanwhile, the Basker-2 well produced a total of 165,000 barrels of oil during February, in addition to 1.26 billion cubic feet of gas and 6000 barrels of water.

With a current average daily oil production of about 5900 barrels of oil per day, Basker-2 has produced a total of 548,000 barrels to date.

Anzon said production would continue until the middle of this month before the next sale. About 380,000 barrels of oil are due to be sold on March 23, the company said.

The Basker-Manta is a 50:50 joint venture between Anzon and Beach Petroleum.