A new expert assessment has effectively added another low-risk project to Sound Oil’s (LON:SOU) active portfolio.
Sound Oil’s Santa Maria Goretti, or SMG, project is located adjacent to two gas fields which have been producing for thirty years.
A third party assessment by ‘competent person’ CGG Robertson estimates 66.4bn cubic feet of gas initially in place, of which it estimates 32.8bn cubic feet of prospective resources. It values the project at €52.4mln (NPV10).
This represents a huge upgrade to the prior view of the project, and it CPR supports the company’s plans to drill an exploration well (and possibly a subsequent development well) on the property.
"This CPR uplifts the Company's previous resource estimate by 82% and confirms the addition of a further low risk, yet hugely material, asset into Sound Oil's Italian onshore gas portfolio,” said chief executive James Parsons.
“The top hole location has already been identified and an application to drill will be submitted to the permitting authorities shortly, with a view to drilling during 2015."
The well will primarily target the ‘Thin Beds’ reservoir, which the CPR gives a 68% geological chance of success, as well as the secondary ‘Level-1’ target.