Faroe Petroleum has farmed into the UK Continental Shelf Agar/Plantain exploration and appraisal well close to the UK/Norwegian median line, operated by Azinor Catalyst Limited (“Catalyst”).
The Plantain exploration prospect will be drilled first followed by a contingent side-track to appraise the Agar oil field, discovered in 2014, Faroe said.
Operator volumes in Agar and Plantain have been estimated by Catalyst at a combined mid-case resource of 60 million barrels of oil equivalent, with an upside case of 98 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Per Faroe, Plantain is an Eocene oil prospect which follows on from the original Agar oil discovery in 2014 (9/14a-15A) and the analogous Frosk oil discovery (24/9-12 S) made in Norway by AkerBP earlier 2018.
Spud in August
Drilling on Agar Plantain is currently scheduled to start later this month using the Transocean Leader at a total estimated gross cost of $15 million.
Faroe joins Catalyst (25.0% and operator) and Cairn Energy plc (50.0%) in this sole-risk well, the results of which will be announced on completion of drilling operations. Faroe’s equity interest in this well is 25.0%, to be funded through existing cash resources, and through the same transaction will also become a 12.5% equity interest holder in the wider P1763 Licence (Apache 50.0% and operator, Cairn 25.0%, Catalyst 12.5%).
This farm-in remains subject to the customary regulatory and third party consents.
Seventh well
Graham Stewart , Chief Executive of Faroe Petroleum, said: “We are pleased to announce the Agar Plantain farm-in, targeting two oil prospects, adding the seventh well to our ongoing committed exploration and appraisal programme and further increasing the near-term upside potential in our growing asset base. We look forward to working with Catalyst, as operator, to unlock the potential of the Agar Plantain prospect.
He said that Faroe’s UK exploration strategy was to pursue suitable opportunities located close to existing infrastructure. These offer potential for quick development through subsea tie-back.
“The Agar Plantain well represents a good opportunity to leverage our extensive Norwegian exploration expertise and track record onto the UKCS, and in a cost-effective manner, taking advantage of continuing low rig rates,” Stewart said.
“This farm-in follows on from our award of UKCS Block 30/14b in the UK 30th Licencing Round announced in May, containing the high impact prospect Edinburgh (Faroe 100%) which straddles the UK/Norwegian median line.”