Dune Oil advances Gabar exploration with new seismic program ahead of drilling

Dune Oil advances Gabar exploration with new seismic program ahead of drilling

Tue, August 11, 2026 at 4:53 PM GMT+3 3 min read

Dune Oil Corp (CSE:DUNE, OTCQB:TRLEF, FRA:Z620) announced that it is advancing exploration work on its Gabar Block in southeastern Türkiye, with a tender underway for a 40-kilometre 2D seismic program ahead of further drilling expected to be finalized by September 2026.

The Gabar Block covers about 450 square kilometres in the M47 areas of the Gabar petroleum province, where Dune has the right to earn up to a 29% working interest under an agreement dated Jan. 9, 2026, as amended. The company is earning its interest through a staged US$15 million work program commitment, of which US$800,000 has been advanced year-to-date.

An independent resource evaluation completed by Chapman under NI 51-101 standards assigned the North Prospect a 2C contingent resource of 27.6 million barrels, along with an unrisked NPV-10 of US$733.5 million and a risk-adjusted value of US$594.2 million. The evaluation assigned the resource an 81% chance of commerciality.

Dune said total unrisked resource potential across its three prospects stands at 51.6 million barrels net to the company. The North Prospect has potential for up to 80 vertical development wells, subject to commerciality.

The company is planning to acquire the new seismic data across three priority exploration areas over approximately six weeks using nodal recording technology. Dune said the program is intended to improve its understanding of fault-related structures and identify additional drilling targets.

A high-resolution gravity survey completed between May and June identified what the company described as significant fault-related structures and priority leads across the licence. A field scouting program was completed in July to verify proposed seismic lines and determine required excavation work.

Dune said only about 25% of the Gabar Block is currently covered by seismic data. It expects the new program to identify four to six additional drillable exploration locations and plans to announce its next drilling targets once the seismic work is completed.

The company's Çetinkaya-1 well, drilled in 2025, encountered 32.4-degree API light oil and 38 metres of gross pay. Drilling was halted at a depth of 2,455 metres because of lost circulation, leaving approximately 160 metres of potential reservoir unpenetrated. Dune expects to re-enter the well later this year for additional production testing.

The Gabar Block is located about 11 kilometres southeast of the Şehit Aybüke Yalçın field, which Dune described as Türkiye's largest onshore light oil discovery. The company said the block targets similar Beloka and Mardin Group carbonate reservoirs.

Dune also pointed to established oil production in the surrounding Gabar region, where it said more than 100 analogue wells are operating within a 2-to-12-kilometre radius. According to public reports cited by the company, about seven new oil fields have been discovered in the Cudi-Gabar region over the past five years, while regional Gabar fields collectively produce more than 80,000 barrels per day.

Approximately US$4.35 million is due under Dune's work program commitment in mid-September 2026, with additional payments to follow. The company will bear 60% and 80% of the costs of the next wells, respectively, from its contributions, after which costs will be allocated on a pro-rata basis according to working interests.