Range Resources gains on promising results of oil well in Guatemala

Range Resources shares soared after the oil company reported encouraging results from its Atzam 4 well in Guatemala on Wednesday.Shares jumped 10.83% to 3.99p as the group said it recovered high quality oil from the well. Latin American Resources, operator of the Atzam Oil Project in Guatemala, has continued swabbing the well to recover the drilling and perforation fluids and establish the commercial potential of the perforated Lower C17/Upper C18 carbonates.Flow rates of 300 to 400 barrels per day were estimated with an 85% to 90% oil cut, based on results to date.Approximately 50% of the total drilling and perforation fluids used in the operations have been recovered."The operator is now arranging to use an Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) to help fast track the finalisation of the clean-up operations and establish the commercial potential of these perforated zones," Executive Director of Range Resources, Peter Landau, said.The ESP will be sourced from the US and is expected to be operational in two to three weeks.The recovery of high quality oil from swabbing of the perforated Upper C18 sections is considered promising by the operator for the potential of this section, Landau added. RD