logo-loader

Proactive weekly oil and gas highlights: UKOG, Sound Energy, Europa Oil & Gas, Providence Resources ...

Published: 04:00 20 Oct 2018 EDT

oil and gas operations

It was another important week for UK Oil & Gas Plc (LON:UKOG) and the Horse Hill oil discovery, near London’s Gatwick airport.

UKOG, on Thursday, declared the Horse Hill Portland oil field “commercially viable”. It followed on from the successful extended test of the conventional Portland reservoir, which exceeded expectations with a calculated vertical well production rate of 362 barrels of oil per day.

The company now envisages a further field development, including the proposed horizontal Horse Hill 2 well which will have a targeted production rate of 720 to 1,080 bopd from the Portland.

UKOG noted that it already has planning and environmental consent for the drilling of HH-2 and it is scheduled to start in early 2019.

Consultant Xodus has modelled the Portland’s production profile and claims that up to 45% of the Portland reservoir’s oil-in-place could be recovered if certain pressure support measures are put in place. A development of the Portland would comprise up to three production wells and two pressure support wells, UKOG added.

Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU)

Sound Energy confirmed that it has now begun drilling operations for the TE-9 exploration well in Morocco. The new exploration well within the Tendrara project area is the first of three. It is targeting the A1 prospect, which is located some 19 kilometres from the Tendrara production concession area.

TE-9 will be drilled down to 3,022 metres. It will test two targets, one is the primary TAGI reservoir and the other is the underlying Paleozoic. The programme is expected to take between 35 and 45 days.

Earlier in the week, Sound said it had received ministerial approval for an eight-year petroleum agreement for the Greater Tendrara project area.

It confirms the security over the Greater Tendrara area which spans some 14,500 square kilometres and is 47.5% held by Sound, alongside partners Schlumberger and Morocco’s state oil and gas firm ONHYM which own 27.5% and 25% respectively.

Europa Oil & Gas Holdings Plc (LON:EOG)

Europa, on Wednesday, is sufficiently encouraged by its progress offshore Ireland that is now actively preparing for a well programme, which could come as soon as next year.

The Ireland focussed explorer, in its final results statement, highlighted the potential within its catalogue of high impact offshore prospects in the Atlantic Margin, off the west coast – with the spotlight on the gas targets in the Inishkea area.

Some 2.54 trillion cubic feet of gas potential has been estimated across six prospects in the Inishkea area which is in the neighbourhood of the Corrib field, Ireland’s primary source of gas. These prospects are somewhat de-risked by a past well, drilled in 2010 by Shell, which encountered an 80-metre gas column which Europa believes was only a portion of the reservoir.

The fact that Corrib is next door, naturally, creates an opportunity for new gas discoveries to be delivered to market faster than they might otherwise be. For Europa, the plan is now to secure an exploration partner through a farm-out process which is presently underway.

Providence Resources PLC (LON:PVR)

Providence had encouraging reports concerning frontier exploration licence (FEL) 6/14 situated some 260 kilometres off the south-west coast of Ireland.

FEL 6/14 contains the Newgrange prospect, where a site survey was conducted in July, followed up by the acquisition of seabed samples that have now been independently analysed for the presence of hydrocarbons.

Geochemical analysis of seabed samples acquired during this programme has confirmed the presence of both biogenic and thermogenic hydrocarbon sourcing signatures indicating that 262-seabed pockmarks identified in the site survey are possibly related to hydrocarbon migration.

In addition, high-resolution sub-bottom two-dimensional (2D) data analysis has revealed buried pockmark fields up to around 100 metres beneath the seabed possibly indicating active hydrocarbon migration over a prolonged period.

Providence said discussions with third parties that are interested in taking a stake in the field are continuing. Depending on the outcome of these discussions, drilling could take place in either 2019 or 2020 (subject to regulatory consent). The latest internal well cost estimate is less than US$15 million, exclusive of mobilisation.

Block Energy Plc (LON:BLOCK)

Block Energy has kicked off a programme of well work-overs at the Norio oil field, in the Republic of Georgia, where it intends to scale up production rapidly before the end of this year.

It plans to carry out two work-over programmes, one through late 2018 and one in the first quarter of 2019. The current programme begins with the preparation of four of eight existing wells before new perforation technology will bypass any damage caused by historic heavy mud drilling.

New or refurbished pumps will be installed to bring the wells to production.

Hurricane Energy PLC (LON:HUR)

On Monday, Hurricane chalked off another potential stumbling block, as this morning it confirmed that a key milestone towards ‘first oil’ at the Lancaster field.

The oil field developer, in a stock market statement, told investors that the Aoka Mizu FPSO vessel has now departed Dubai, where it was upgraded in dry-dock.

The specialised vessel will sail to Rotterdam, where it will undergo a final scope of work, before moving on to the Lancaster field. Meanwhile, at the field, the final stages of site preparations (including a programme of rock dumping to protect sub-sea infrastructure) has now been completed.

Hurricane’s previous communications have indicated that the FPSO is expected to arrive in the fourth quarter. It means that the Lancaster early production, which will yield around 17,000 barrels of oil per day, remains on-track for start-up at some point in the first half of 2019.

Analysts at SP Angel, in a note, said: “This is really one of the last publicly identifiable hurdles that needs clearing before the FPSO arrives onsite and production commences, which given the genesis of the Company is a significant achievement.

“We do not expect too many more of these announcements before first oil, which is when the real hard work begins.”

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

5 hours, 3 minutes ago