Touchstone Exploration reports drilling launch, Cascadura gains, and production figures for Trinidad operations in August–September 2026
Touchstone Exploration dropped an operational update covering August and early September 2026, laying out what’s been happening across its WD-4, Ortoire, and Central blocks in Trinidad and Tobago. There’s a lot to unpack — a fresh two-well drilling campaign, optimization work at Cascadura, a workover at Carapal Ridge that didn’t go quite as planned, and net production figures for July and August.
Touchstone releases August–September 2026 operational update for Trinidad
The update touches three different parts of Touchstone’s Trinidad and Tobago portfolio, each at its own stage. WD-4 is heading into a new drilling phase. Cascadura, in the Ortoire block, is being actively tuned up, while Carapal Ridge is shifting direction after a workover delivered mixed results.
Production held fairly steady through the period. Net sales production averaged 4,402 boe/d in July 2026, and field-estimated net production came in at 4,392 boe/d in August — a slight dip, but consistent enough across both months. Touchstone credited ongoing optimization work across all three blocks for keeping things stable.
Because the Karamat sands also appear in the Carapal Ridge-1 and Carapal Ridge-2 wells, the company sees additional development potential beyond CR-3 itself.
WD-4 two-well drilling campaign mobilized ahead of mid-September spud
The WD-4 drilling campaign is one of the clearest near-term milestones in the update. Construction of both drilling locations is done, the rig is already on site, and the first well is targeting a mid-September 2026 spud under the WD-4 Lease Operatorship Agreement.
The financial setup is worth paying attention to. Turnkey drilling costs for the second well will be covered by the drilling contractor, which cuts Touchstone’s direct capital exposure while still moving field development forward. For a company running multiple programs simultaneously, that kind of cost-sharing arrangement makes a real difference. Both wells are commitment wells under the lease, targeting additional oil production as part of what Touchstone calls the next phase of its ongoing WD-4 development program.
Cascadura booster compressor and solvent treatments drive output growth at Ortoire block
Cascadura saw some of the most visible progress during the period. The booster compressor, commissioned on July 9, 2026, had a rough start — but reliability has been climbing, with uptime availability moving from roughly 57% in July to 73% in August. The operations team is still working toward a 97% target, so there’s ground left to cover.
That uptime improvement is showing up in the gas numbers. Gross natural gas output from Cascadura grew from around 6.6 MMcf/d in June to 9.7 MMcf/d in July, then 12.6 MMcf/d in August. The trajectory is solid, though Touchstone acknowledges the compressor still needs further work.
At the well level, a solvent squeeze treatment at Cascadura-2ST1 produced encouraging incremental production gains. Where it makes sense, similar treatments are being evaluated across additional Cascadura wells in the second half of 2026. A workover at Cascadura-3ST1 and a recompletion at Cascadura-5 are both scheduled for October.
CR-3 workover yields limited response; Karamat sands completion planned for October
Not everything went to plan. At the CR-3 well on the Central block, Touchstone completed a coiled tubing cleanout and acid stimulation program during August and early September. The result was a limited production response — the workover didn’t resolve the reservoir damage that came from drilling operations.
The work wasn’t wasted, though. Useful data on the well’s reservoir restrictions and the potential extent of residual drilling damage came out of the program, and that information is now feeding directly into the next move. Touchstone is preparing a completion program targeting the Karamat sands, which showed encouraging hydrocarbon potential when CR-3 was originally drilled. The interval holds approximately 82 feet of net pay between 6,530 and 6,760 feet depth. Because the Karamat sands also appear in the Carapal Ridge-1 and Carapal Ridge-2 wells, the company sees additional development potential beyond CR-3 itself. Execution is targeted for October 2026.
Central block gas sold at $10.28/Mcf during Train 4 downtime; condensate pricing shifted to Brent benchmark
The Central block had some notable commercial developments too. From May 27 through August 1, 2026, natural gas from the Central field was redirected to the Atlantic LNG Train 2/3 gas supply contract while Train 4 went through planned maintenance. During July, net production of approximately 8.96 MMcf/d sold at an estimated net-of-fees price of $10.28 per Mcf under that arrangement.
Touchstone also amended its condensate marketing contract, effective September 1, 2026. The revised deal links pricing to the Brent crude oil benchmark, replacing a previous WTI-linked arrangement. Brent-referenced pricing for Trinidad liquids has historically traded at a narrower discount to benchmark than WTI-linked pricing — and the company expects the change to support better realized revenues going forward. Net Central block condensate sales averaged 152 bbls/d in July and 96 bbls/d in August.
Key highlights from Touchstone’s August–September 2026 update
Put it all together and you’ve got a company juggling several moving parts at once. The WD-4 campaign is the most immediate catalyst, with the first well spudding mid-September and the second carrying reduced financial risk thanks to contractor-covered turnkey costs. Cascadura is trending in the right direction on both uptime and output, even if the compressor still needs attention. The CR-3 setback has pivoted focus to the Karamat sands — a zone with potential across multiple wells — and the switch to Brent-linked condensate pricing is a quiet structural change that could improve margins over time without making much noise.
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