Faroe picks up first new UKCS license in four years

Oil and gas company Faroe Petroleum has been awarded a new prospective exploration license in the 30th Licence Round on the UK Continental Shelf, announced by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) on Wednesday.

The UK’s Oil and Gas Authority offered 123 licenses over 229 blocks or part-blocks to 61 companies in the 30th Offshore Licensing Round.

Faroe said on Thursday that it was awarded a 100 percent interest and operatorship in Block 30/14b, a prospect named Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh prospect straddles the UK/Norway border in the Central North Sea, at the southeastern end of the prolific Josephine Ridge area, south of the producing Blane field, where Faroe holds a 44.5 percent interest, and adjacent to the producing Flyndre/Cawdor fields operated by Maersk.

According to Faroe, the structure is a large, tilted Mesozoic fault block, and is one of the largest remaining undrilled structures in the Central North Sea covering an area of over 40 square kilometers.

The prospective reservoirs in this new license include the Triassic Skagerrak Formation and the Upper Jurassic Ula age-equivalent (Freshney and Fulmar) proven reservoir sandstones.

The large Edinburgh prospect spans multiple licenses in UK and Norwegian waters of the North Sea and is also stratigraphically split across one license.

Faroe added that the license work program comprised a drill-or-drop well, pore pressure analysis and structural studies.

Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe, said: “We are pleased to announce the award of Block 30/14b which contains the high-impact Edinburgh prospect. This award is significant in that it is our first new license in the UKCS since 2014 and leverages Faroe’s considerable knowledge and technical expertise gained over many years of activity in both UK and Norwegian waters in order to access attractive cross-border opportunities such as Edinburgh.

“Faroe is targeting multiple potential new discoveries with a significant exploration and appraisal program of six wells committed in 2018 alone, taking full advantage of current low rig rates.

“The exciting Fogelberg appraisal well is currently underway, to be followed by the high-impact Rungne exploration and then the new Brasse East exploration well, both of which are located near to the Brasse field.”

In recent news, Faroe Petroleum made a commitment to drill the Brasse East exploration well off Norway and awarded an associated rig contract to a Transocean semi-submersible.