FOGL - Reuters interview and AGM notes.
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL5E8GMDRA20120522?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
INTERVIEW-Falklands Oil sees huge potential despite Argentina noise
Tue May 22, 2012 4:25pm GMT
By Sarah Young
LONDON May 22 (Reuters) - The political noise stirred up by Argentina over the Falkland Islands will not deter big energy firms from investing in the region if there is enough oil found to make it worthwhile, said the chief executive of explorer Falkland Oil & Gas.
"It's not the politics that are stopping the companies coming in, it's the fact that no-one has yet made big, world-class discoveries," the company's chief executive Tim Bushell said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.
Verbal sparring over the sovereignty of the islands, which are claimed by Argentina, has gathered pace since oil was discovered in Falkland waters in 2010, with Argentina using legal threats and shipping curbs to try to disrupt exploration.
FOGL, due to drill a well off the south of the islands in less than two months, is close to finalising a deal to bring in an unnamed partner to help it explore its licences, Bushell said.
He described the group as "a listed independent" oil firm, referring to the tier of companies below the biggest international oil firms or oil majors.
"At the moment, there's no reason to suspect that it's not going to happen," Bushell said, referring to the option arrangement signed with the unnamed group in March.
Named Loligo after the squid which is fished in the area, the well could hold up to 4.7 billion barrels of oil, said Bushell, a tall, affable character, who worked on a failed campaign to find oil in the Falklands in the late 1990s.
Bushell is confident that should oil and gas be found in sufficient quantities, the politically sensitive nature of the region won't stop oil majors from investing to get the oil pumping, potentially transforming the islands, which are heavily reliant on fishing.
Another British explorer, Rockhopper, has found an oil field to the north of the Falklands and is trying to secure a partner to help fund the $2 billion development of the field, but the process is taking longer than the three months it originally guided.
"What big oil companies want is not only one big discovery, they want a big area where there's lots of follow-on so that they can go and set up a business there that's going to be there for 30 years. The southern basin could have that," he said.
Leading the charge to explore the southern Falkland basin is Borders & Southern, which made a significant discovery of gas condensate at its Darwin prospect in April, something Bushell said was a big positive for FOGL.
"We're excited about it because we have five, maybe even six things, that look just like Darwin literally across the licence boundary," he said.
Bushell shrugged off the notion that finding gas in the remote Southern Atlantic islands would be uneconomic to develop, pointing to the example of East Africa, where huge finds have been made and plans are underway to extract it.
Oil tends to be cheaper to develop in remote locations as a floating production operation can be installed and it can be more readily transported, whereas transporting gas requires the building of costly facilities to freeze the gas into liquefied natural gas.
Any further discoveries in the Falklands will likely prompt more hostility from Argentina, coming at a time when the country is intensely focused on its own resources, having nationalised oil firm YPF in a move to boost production and keep up with domestic demand. (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
-------------------
AGM notes thanks to faldiz on III
........There were 4 or so people I recognised at the AGM, and then may add their own notes. Here are the bits that interested me.
DARWIN
Good result. Proves Aptian working HC system. Game on for exploration. Possibly also a Jurassic source.
Likely to be 2-3 TCF of gas, 2 - 300m barrels of condensate. Sample could go on a chartered cargo flight, at cost – or by sea in about 6 weeks. Delay is likely because BOR taking their time to think through implications for rest of their acreage. May or may not be stand alone commercial, depending on liquid content.
Darwin drilled the mid-cretaceous, but not the Springhill reservoirs.
5 or 6 Darwin look-alikes in FOGL licences, but structurally complex, and FOGL need 3D to define them. Some of these not as deeply buried, and may have oil.
Gas re-injection could be done at this depth, at a cost.
LOLIGO
Some form of HC now likely, question is what. Worst case would be fizz-gas (experts explain), which would be bad news, but unlikely, and would in any case gather at higher end of the reservoir, leaving room for better stuff below.
Likely, FOGL would test each reservoir as they drilled through it, and may well issue RNSs after each – because whether good or bad, it is price sensitive. No guarantees, though.
GAS
FLNG ships are now being built that could deal with SFB waters, but development using these are 15 years off. However, on-shore, or FLNG in a sheltered bay may be realistic sooner, but would need of order 6TCF.
Geothermal model confirmed by Darwin result – as hot as thought. Oil window at 3-4km burial. Toroa was an anomaly which made temperatures appear lower than model. Gas was predicted at Darwin (by FOGL), condensate a nice surprise.
FARM-IN
Hopefully resolved, if so news in coming month. Did not talk to majors – they take too long for current need, and would want control. Later, in success case. Farm-in partner not the Indian company. FOGL have had 8 or 9 medium sized European and US companies through their data room. 3 or 4 still showing interest.
RIG
FOGL being kept aware of teething problems. These are being sorted out.
Possibility of FOGL taking 3rd slot (5th over all), in the success case. 5th option lapsed formally in May of last year, but Ocean did offer it again earlier this year, at a cost that neither BOR of FOGL were willing to pay, ahead of Darwin results. May not be possible in time, as rig is contracted to Total from early 2013.
3D
Likely BOR and FOGL will share a survey ship for southern licences. FOGL may in addition survey northern licences. 4th quarter 2012, if so.
Follow-on drilling campaign would not be until end of 2013.