Puntland well on track, says Red Emperor and Range Resources

Shares in joint venture partners Range Resources and Red Emperor Resources slipped on Friday morning despite the announcement that its Shabeel North well in Puntland, Somalia, is on track.The well, which was spudded initially at the start of the month, is currently at a depth of 984m; it is targeting a total depth of 2,400m. "Drilling operations have progressed smoothly since spudding and remain on track to reach target depth on time and on budget," the companies said.Shabeel North, the second well in the current drilling campaign, is operated by Canadian group Horn Petroleum which owns a 60% interest. Range and Red Emperor have a 20% stake each. The well is targeting Upper Cretaceous Jesomma sands which had "good" oil and gas shows in the first well, Shabeel-1, 3.5km south of the current well.Red Emperor's shares fell 2.82% in early trading, while Range Resources dropped 3.27%.BC