so to emphasize the current state of operations-from p38-39 of the Quarterly report-the major current status sections of the Quarterly noted in my last post,is the following noted in last post
"
The initial phase of our recompletion project consisted of a category three inspection of the drilling rig, rigging down from MJ-02 and moving and rigging up over the MJ-01 well.
Stage two of the operation involved drilling out both the steel plugs along with 625 meters (about 2,050 feet) of cement plugs and re-conditioning the wellbore to allow unhindered access to the selected zones for testing.
After six years of inactivity in a well over three miles deep, the MJ-01 wellbore presents a challenging environment. The crew appears to have experienced elastic and partial collapse of the casing in some areas. This led to the bottom hole assembly (“BHA”) becoming stuck over 4,000 meters from surface. Attempts to overpull the BHA were unsuccessful, and the crew completed a backoff operation which left over 500 meters of the BHA remaining downhole. This is not an uncommon occurrence with oil and gas drilling operations, but we do need to recover the fish to resume operations. The crew was unsuccessful in retrieving the remaining BHA with the tools that were on location and will require specialized tools and techniques to recover the entire fish. The specialized tools we need are not in Israel, but have been sourced, but not approved for mobilization due to the active conflict in Israel.
Another delay arose out of the logistical challenges we face. The ongoing conflict in the region has impacted shipping routes, the timely arrival of necessary equipment, and created travel difficulties for our rig crews. Our operations require specialized rig crews who are not available in Israel.
An even further delay has been created by many of our rig crew members reaching the limit of their work visas. This requires us to reset visas, which is not a simple process, and it adds another layer of delay and complexity. Moreover, the recent changes to visa eligibility have further complicated the process, as Israel, in just the last few months, has changed their 90-day visa renewals from resetting at the end of the year to resetting after six months after expiration. We are working with the Ministry of Interior on this issue. As a side note, the crew had to enter Israel under 90 day visas and not six month or 12 month visas in order to comply with the labor law requirements in place at the time the operation commenced.
p.39 [emphasis below via underlining added]
In light of the combination of downhole, logistical, and crew challenges, as well as holidays, and the one-year remembrance of October 7, we have temporarily paused active operations. This is a necessary step to ensure the safety of our personnel and to ensure proper engineering and tools are brought to location to avoid lengthy delays waiting for additional tools should any be required once the job resumes. We anticipate that once we have the necessary tools and renewed visas for our crews, we can resume operations in Q4 2024 or Q1 2025. This is, of course, subject to the realities of the present geopolitical environment. The conflict in Israel, while not directly impacting our operations on a daily basis, creates uncertainties that could affect our schedule at any time.
While our MJ-01 re-completion project has faced a multitude of hurdles, including an active conflict, downhole issues and logistical challenges, we continue to move forward each time a safe opportunity permits continuation of operations. However, we will only move forward in coordination with Israeli authorities. We are actively monitoring the port situation to import the items needed to complete the current work program. We remain optimistic about making significant progress in the coming months."
my commentary: one could get the idea the adversary is throwing up road blocks-the usual hindering delaying blocking strategies
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