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02.05.2006
Elixir Petroleum Sets Out Its Strategy Following The Disappointment Of Its North Sea Jaguar Well
We wrote in a report on our most recent oilbarrel.com conference in March what a brave man Russell Langusch, managing director of Elixir Petroleum, was. He had stood up before a packed room of institutional, retail investors and industry professionals soon after his third dry hole in a row, and following a sharp drop in the value of his companys shares which are listed on Londons AIM.
He said he was not suffering from post dry hole depression. Instead he wanted to stress that there was still a lot to go for in the UK North Sea, where the company is focused. Now an operations update from Elixir has fleshed out the companys strategy post the Jaguar dry hole.
Languschs presentation went down well with delegates because he confronted the Jaguar issue head on. Langusch had always acknowledged that Jaguar was a high-risk prospect. Well 211/22b-5 located on the Jaguar prospect in Northern North Sea Block 211/22b was spudded by the semi submersible Bradford Dolphin on January 23, 2006.
The well was designed to test a subtle Upper Jurassic trap to the northeast of Shells North Cormorant oilfield. The underlying Jurassic formation was a secondary objective. This kind of subtle stratigraphic trap has been successfully drilled on the Norwegian side of the border but has largely been overlooked in UK waters. The well was drilled to a total depth of 13,050 ft (3,977 metres).
No indications of commercial hydrocarbons were seen in the primary Upper Jurassic target. However, oil shows were observed over a 55 ft (17 metres) interval within the Middle Jurassic. Obtaining representative fluid samples proved difficult due to the low permeability of the formation. The well was subsequently plugged and abandoned. There had been a pre-drill reserve of 450 million barrels of oil.
There was some consolation for investors in that Elixir had a 40 per cent interest in the Jaguar licence but only contributed 7.5 per cent of the costs following a farm out agreement with Norwegian operator DNO. But the Jaguar well followed on the heels of the Muness and Marquis disasters. Muness, in block 21/4b, was drilled at the backend of 2005 and found only minor gas shows. The Marquis well was drilled in the summer of 2005 and was plugged and abandoned after encountering water-bearing reservoir sands.
So where does the company go now? Elixir has come a long way from a standing start 18 month ago. It holds 14 licences and 17 prospects, including a variety of structural and stratigraphic plays in the Northern Central and Southern sectors of the North Sea. The company is geared up for high impact exploration but also stresses there are some lesser risk prospects in the mix. It is also involved in the latest annual offshore UK round which was announced last March with applications for 24th round licences due for submission by mid-June. More than 1,400 blocks are available in the latest round in the North Sea, Atlantic Margin and East Irish Sea through application for traditional, promote or frontier licences. The company has already commenced work purchasing data and identifying prospective blocks for application with two highly credentialed partners. The licence offers are expected around September 2006.
As for what it has already has, Elixir is adopting a three-pronged approach. First it wants to advance on the high impact front, despite Jaguar. It is actively marketing farming out the North Sea licences which host the Leopard and Panther prospects. Leopard should be the first. This prospect could have a possible 300 million barrels. The company currently holds 80 per cent of this prospect and is seeking farm-in partners to help shoulder the costs and risks of drilling the wildcat. Marketing this prospect could be tough but Langusch reckons it is different enough to be interesting.
He says: We have done more technical work on Leopard. It does have a stratigraphic element to it but its a bit more robust than Jaguar and has a couple more targets on it.
This prospect is unlikely until 2007. The first part of the companys strategy is an intensive marketing campaign along with Alliance partner, Granby Oil & Gas to farm-out interests in the jointly held 22nd Round licences. This has been going on for some months. Some of these prospects are lower risk than Leopard. Several proposals are under consideration and there is hope to drill two or three wells in the rest of 2006.
The third is to identify some production and near production. Although the company has 3.4 million the bank, enough for drilling over the next year, then successful addition of production would complement the higher risk exploration activity and reduce the dependence on capital markets to fund ongoing exploration. Rather than paying a premium for North Sea assets at auction, the company will also be looking at possibilities in Central Europe, North Africa and the Americas.