ASX energy share Melbana Energy Ltd (ASX: MAY) is shooting the lights out today.
Shares in the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) oil and gas stock closed last Wednesday at 6.2 cents apiece before entering a trading halt. At the time of writing, Melbana shares are swapping hands for 9 cents apiece, up 45.2%.
For some context, the All Ords is up 0.35% at this same time.
Here's what's piquing investor interest?
What's boosting the ASX energy share today?
Investors are bidding up the Melbana share price after the ASX energy share reported on promising flow testing results.
Melbana Energy holds a 30% interest in and is the operator of Block 9 PSC, an oil project located onshore in Cuba.
In this morning's update on its Alameda-2 appraisal well at the project, Melbana said it had completed flow testing of Unit 1B in the Amistad Formation. This is the last unit to be tested by this well.
Among the highlights of the successful flow test was that it brought significantly lighter and lower viscosity oil to the surface compared to other units in the Amistad Formation. And no formation of water was observed during the flow test or from logs.
Management reported that peak flow to the surface reached 1,903 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from Unit 1B. The company achieved a stabilised average flow rate pf 1,235 bpd.
Melbana said it had produced and trucked away more than 1,000 barrels of oil produced during the field testing.
Commenting on the results sending the ASX energy share soaring today, executive chairman Andrew Purcell said:
Unit 1B has really delivered, as we hoped would be the case given the high fracture density and excellent permeability and porosity we observed in the logs when drilling through that unit. That it contains higher quality oil has implications for the value of the oil produced and the possibility of higher recovery rates than were assumed in our original resource estimates, too.
Purcell added that "the flow rate exceeded our expectations for a vertical test at such a shallow level".
Unit 1B is now being completed to allow for future production.
Melbana share price snapshot
There have been some big ups and downs for the Melbana Energy share price over the past 12 months.
With today's big gains factored in, the ASX energy share is up 27% over the past full year.
