Rose Petroleum Plc announced Dec. 18 that its wholly owned subsidiary, Rose Petroleum (Utah) LLC, has been granted the drilling permit from the State of Utah to enable operations to commence at its State 1-34 Mancos well in the Uinta Basin.

Last week Rose was given approval to build the drilling pad and road, which it has now completed. Beeman Drilling Services, of Moab, Utah, will be moving its rig on location and commencing operations prior to the end of the year.

Rose plans to drill to a total vertical depth of 3,200 feet, enabling it to test both the Mancos Shale as well as conventional reservoirs below the Mancos, which have been identified with 2-D seismic. Rose will take two whole cores as well as several rotary side wall cores to determine specific rock properties to assist Rose in designing the horizontal well and the fracture stimulation treatment of the Mancos.

Matthew Idiens, CEO, said in a statement, "I am pleased to be able to announce the granting of the drilling permit and operations can now commence in earnest. We will mobilise the drill rig imminently and I look forward to updating the market further as operations develop. Rose has had a transformational year, despite the recent volatility of the oil market. With our large prospective recoverable resources of both oil and gas and low break-even cost, we are now entering a very exciting period and have an opportunity to create significant value for shareholders. "