http://www.oilbarrel.com/home.html
15.08.2008
Desire Petroleum Confirms Partner For Falklands Drilling But No Firm Dates Yet
It has been quite some time now since we last featured AIM-quoted explorer Desire Petroleum, a company seeking to prise open the largely untested hydrocarbons potential of the Falkland Islands.
Ten years have now passed since it first made moves into the South Atlantic, where it now boasts five exploration licences (Tranches C, D, F, I and L). It has just been awarded a fresh plot of acreage adjacent to its existing Tranche I in the North Falklands Basin, an area roughly half the size of Texas.
Investors have needed to be patient. Despite some intriguing prospects this remains virgin territory. One of the problems facing Desire Petroleum at the time of our last coverage note, in June 2007, was the shortage of those two vital components to mount a successful drilling offensive, namely cash (and lots of it) and access to a rig.
News from the Desire camp this week suggests progress on both fronts. Approval has been granted for the February 2008 farm-in by Arcadia Petroleum, a deal which could finally test some of the multiple prospects Desire has accumulated.
Under this agreement, Arcadia will drill and test the Ann prospect paying 85 per cent of the costs to earn a 35 per cent interest in a sub-area of Tranche C, which includes the Ann and Orca South prospects.
As part of another transaction, existing partner Rockhopper Exploration is responsible for paying the remaining 15 per cent of the Ann well costs to earn a 7.5 per cent interest in Tranches C and D.
It lands Desire Petroleum with a net 57.5 per cent interest in the Ann prospect which has mid-estimate recoverable reserves potential of 202 million barrels of oil.
With our new partner on board we are now in a far stronger position to pursue actively all available rig opportunities for drilling our prospects, says chairman Stephen Phipps. No details on timings were released however.
In Tranche I, Arcadia will also drill and test a new gas prospect named Alpha, paying 100 per cent of the costs to earn 50 per cent in Block 25/10 and part of Block 25/15. This prospect also extends into the newly awarded Blocks 25/8, 25/9 and 25/14b where Arcadia has an 80 per cent interest and Desire 20 per cent.
According to Desire, Alpha is a large, well-defined, structural closure, covering an area of over 300 sq km. Its mid-estimate for potential recoverable reserves is no less than 7.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) with 15 Tcf in the upside case, huge volumes by any measure, though of course, utterly unproven until drilled. Based on current mapping, Desire holds an approximate 30 per cent share in the Alpha prospect.
Phipps calls it a major exploration play in the North Falkland Basin. We are excited about the new exploration gas play and the large potential of the Alpha prospect. Arcadia will also pay the mobilisation and demobilisation costs associated with the two wells.
Significantly, Desire also appears better equipped to tackle some its other prospects, but going it alone. The majority of the prospects in the Desire inventory are still held 100 per cent by Desire and with the funds currently available and at current rig rates we are able to drill two of these for our own account, says Phipps.
This is bullish talk considering that further farm-ins were on the cards earlier this year when the company first disclosed the Arcadia transaction. Desire has not yet indicated which of its prospects it will target first though it has plenty to choose from.
While this is a very remote area, the waters here are not especially deep, which means operators can use standard semi-submersibles rather than bring in state-of-the-art and er expensive deepwater drillships.
Other believers in the Falklands offshore story, such as Falkland Oil & Gas, are not far off drilling either, though again dates remain vague. This company roped in BHP Billiton last year to sink a couple of wells, which are now planned for 2009.
To date, just a handful of wells have been drilled in the North Falkland Basin, about a decade ago, with most encountering hydrocarbons. Fast forward 10 years, and with oil prices turned on their heads, this is an area than can no longer be ignored. Certainly with talk of 15 Tcf gas prospects it is high time to take the plunge with the drill bit.