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22.02.2007
Elixir Bags Farm-In Partner For Leopard Wildcat
Its not a well-maker but investors will be pleased to see Elixir Petroleum has clinched one farm-in partner to share the costs and risks of drilling the Leopard prospect in the North Sea. German firm RWE Dea has agreed to earn 30 per cent of Block 211/18b by contributing to the costs of the wildcat, thereby reducing Elixirs exposure to 56 per cent and leaving its partner Sosina Exploration with 14 per cent.
This equity reduction is still not enough to greenlight drilling, however, with both Elixir and Sosina keen to limit their risk further. Both companies want to see their costs largely covered by farm-in partners before sinking the well. Elixir's managing director Russell Langusch said he was confident they could attract another farminee to enable us to proceed with detailed planning of the exploration well".
There is no doubt that this will be perceived as a high risk well. Leopard, which lies in the northern North Sea, is a large Upper Jurassic stratigraphic prospect. The prospect has been mapped from modern 3D seismic and there is a long offset seismic line that links Leopard with the producing Borg oilfield in Norwegian waters. Elixir, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as well as Londons Alternative Investment Market, reckons the structure could contain up to several hundred million barrels of oil.
The proof, however, will lie with the drillbit - and this has not always been kind to Elixir. Last year the company drilled three dry holes in a row, including the high impact, high risk Jaguar prospect in Northern North Sea Block 211/22b. Like Leopard, Jaguar was an Upper Jurassic stratigraphic trap and was believed to be analogous to the Borg field. These types of play have received little attention on the UK side of the border but have been successfully exploited by the Norwegians. That Jaguar failed to deliver will, of course, have knocked confidence in Leopard but its worth remembering that the prospect is reckoned to be lower risk because it lies geologically updip of Jaguar. RWE Dea have certainly seen potential in the well.
Elixir has another of these plays on the books. Block 211/8b, also in the Northern North Sea and to the northeast of the Leopard block, is home to the Panther prospect. This is reckoned to have potential at the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous horizons. Elixir has 80 per cent of this block and is actively marketing the block to find farm-in partners before moving ahead with a well.
Its not all high risk wildcatting, however. There is some near-term well exposure for investors with the upcoming Guinea well, which is targeting a more conventional play in a well understood area of the North Sea. Having successfully farmed down its interests here, Elixir will be a minor partner in the Guinea well, which is due to spud this quarter.
Guinea is a four way dip-closed Palaeocene prospect which lies on-trend with producing oil fields to the southeast, including Balmoral and Dumbarton. The Guinea prospect could hold as much as 120 million barrels. Nexen holds interests in a cluster of blocks adjacent to Block 15/13b, including Block 15/18b to the south, home to the Yeoman oil discovery. This opens up the possibility of an early field development, should the well strike lucky.