http://www.bnamericas.com/news/oilandgas/new-finds-add-weight-to-commercial-development-ambitions-desire
New oil finds made on the PL004b license shared between UK explorers Desire Petroleum (AIM: DES) and Rockhopper Exploration (AIM: RKH) in the north Falkland basin have strengthened plans to develop commercial oil production from the area, a spokesman for the former firm told BNamericas.
In a statement on Tuesday, Rockhopper announced the successful completion of its 14/15-4 well on PL004b license which it recently farmed into with a 60% interest.
The well encountered around 89m of gross hydrocarbon shows with no water signs at three new prospects, Beverly, Casper and Casper south (Shona), as well as the existing Sea Lion find.
Drilling is ongoing.
"At this stage it's still very early; we haven't got confirmed volume metrics, but all I can say, it's positive for our guys. This increases the volumes of Sea Lion, and adds more weight to the chances of further development," the spokesman said.
Rockhopper revealed in September early stage development plans which envisioned investment of US$2bn at Sea Lion in an effort to achieve first production by 2016. At the time, the firm said that new oil finds beyond Sea Lion would help de-risk the idea of future development.
The 14/15-4 find means Desire becomes only the second company to have encountered significant hydrocarbons in the area. Desire has been active offshore the Falklands for almost 13 years. Prior to the recent well its latest drilling campaign had consisted of six dry holes.
"Obviously this increases the chances of leveraging the position through financing further down the road. With that in mind, obviously 2012 will see a lot of activity," the spokesman said.
The 14/15-4 well will be the last drilled off the coast of the Falklands using the Ocean Guardian rig contracted from US service company Diamond Offshore.
Two more British firms, Falkland Oil and Gas (AIM: FOGL) and Borders and Southern (AIM: BOR), plan to resume drilling activity early next year in the area, this time in the south Falklands basin, using Ocean Rig UDW's Liev Eriksson unit.