New World Oil & Gas this morning confirmed that drilling will shortly begin on the B Crest project in the Petén Basin, northwest Belize.

This follows the arrival of the ThermaSource drill rig into Belize.

Crest B is the first of three drill ready prospects that New World has identified since it acquired an interest in the Petén Basin acreage last year.

“New World is entering a tremendously exciting period that will see, in just a matter of weeks, the commencement of drilling operations at Blue Creek in Belize, our most advanced project,” said chief executive Bill Kelleher.

“Having reduced the geologic risk of our Belizean prospects by 60 per cent through a multi stage seismic programme we will be in a position to judge whether we have made an oil discovery by mid to late November 2012.”

“This is a hugely significant milestone for the company and we are delighted to have reached it ahead of schedule and at a 53 per cent reduced cost following our amendment to our farm-out agreement and our farm-down to our drilling contractor.”

With an estimated 92 million barrels of prospective oil resources it is also smaller than the other two – West Gallon Jug Crest (113 mln barrels) and A Crest (124 mln barrels).

It is expected that New World will drill B Crest and the West Gallon Jug by the end of the year, with a well on the A Crest project to follow in the first half of next year.

Kelleher also told investors that New World continues to de-risk the prospects identified in its two Danish licences and he expects drilling there next year too. He says the remainder of the year will see the company have a ‘highly active news cycle’.

Source: Proactive Investors