Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd ( TSX-V:RECO , OTCQX:RECAF , FRA:0XD ) said it has resumed drilling at its Kavango West 1X well in Namibia after securing the final permits needed to proceed to horizontal drilling and flow testing.

The company is drilling with partners BW Energy, which holds a 20% working interest, and the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia, which holds a 10% carried working interest.

With an Environmental Clearance Certificate and an amended horizontal drilling permit now secured, the company has set the whipstock and begun sidetrack drilling.

Production casing was removed to a vertical depth of 2,289 metres, where the open-hole whipstock was placed. The sidetrack is scheduled to take approximately one month.

The well targets a horizontal wellbore of up to 1,000 metres in the upper Huttenberg formation to intersect potentially thousands of natural fractures across the Kavango structure, and it will be completed open hole, without casing or cement, to maximize flow rate.

Flow testing will start right after the well is completed and swabbed clean of drilling muds, but before any acid wash. It aims to establish sustained flow rates, pressure response and liquid yield, and extra samples will go to a lab for analysis.

Testing could take up to one month, with results expected to be disclosed before year-end, the company said.