Oil was supposed to be in an updip trap. Instead, they got a...

Oil was supposed to be in an updip trap. Instead, they got a little oil and mostly water, and will likely not be a commercial field.

If they don't hit gas in the next horizon, the last 6 months and $8m will have been blown on a duster. They deliberately chose to drill for oil on this hole (otherwise, the south east of the Chernetska permit area would have been a more likely choice for gas based on fracturing and other historical wells). Drilling ahead is strictly exploratory (they don't really have a good idea of what's down there, because there is no historical well information that deep). Consequently, this drill has a very high probability of being a complete duster.

If it is, then they have another year before they'll be that deep somewhere else in Chernetska. 2 Sorochynska wells online. Probably still muttering something about building their own gas plant, too.

And that's why the price just shed 30%.