Masirah Oil has awarded a contract to Foresight Offshore Drilling Ltd to drill an appraisal well at the Yumna field in Oman’s offshore Block 50. Masirah is 92.65% owned by Singapore-listed investment firm Rex, and has 100% ownership of Block 50. Drilling is “expected to commence” next month and the contract for the Foresight Driller IX jackup rig is effective for “a minimum period of 30 days.” Despite this, Rex confirmed to MEES that it still targets first oil this year. Despite their apparent confidence, that looks unlikely. The key aim of the upcoming well is to assess the potential of the Yumna field, which previously tested at 3,500 b/d (MEES, 9 November 2018).