UK: OGA formally awards six licenses to Cluff Natural Resources

UK-based investment company Cluff Natural Resources (CLNR) has received and accepted the formal award by the UK Oil and Gas Authority for six licenses covering a total of ten full and part blocks.

The provisional awards for the licenses were won by the company in the UK’s 30th Offshore Licencing Round. In the round, UK’s regulator Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) offered 123 licenses over 229 blocks or part-blocks to 61 companies.

CLNR said on Thursday that the company was formally awarded four Southern North Sea licenses and two Central North Sea licenses.

Of the four SNS licenses, three (P2424, P2428, and P2437) were 100 percent-owned by CLNR while the company has a 25 percent equity in the fourth license.

License P2435, which consists of blocks 47/10d and 48/6d, is operated by the Parkmead Group.

As for the Central North Sea, the P2352 and P2384 are both 100 percent-owned by the investment firm.

According to the company, the formal start date of each of the licenses is October 1. The initial phase of each license will be four years, except for the P2424 and P2428 licences where the initial phase will be three years.

“[The company] views these blocks as highly prospective with many containing undeveloped discoveries and exploration upside which significantly enhances both the pipeline of potential drilling opportunities and the overall prospective resources associated with the company’s portfolio,” CNLR said.

Southern North Sea Awards

The Southern North Sea blocks awarded to CLNR contain a number of drilled discoveries, undrilled prospects and leads with an estimated combined unrisked P50 prospective resources of approximately 1.9 TCF net to CLNR. The firm work program associated with Phase A of the initial term of the licenses is restricted to data acquisition, reprocessing and sub-surface studies, and is focussed on providing greater clarity around prospect volumetrics and risk.

Central North Sea Awards

License P2352, which consists of parts of blocks 22/24f and 22/25g, is located in a relatively under-explored area of the Central North Sea, adjacent to the large Marnock-Skua field. The blocks contain the Tesla Discovery (well 22/24a-11) in the Pentland Formation and the low-risk Dewar prospect in the Forties Sandstone.

Previous operators have also proposed leads in the deeper Jurassic formations which require further assessment during the initial phases of the license.

Block 22/19f, which is in the P2384 license, contains multi-level oil prospectivity in the proven Fulmar, Skagerrak and Rotliegend formations. Previous operators have identified a large number of prospects and leads which require further assessment during the initial phase of the license.

Cluff CEO, Graham Swindells, said: “We are delighted to have received and accepted the formal award of these additional licenses by the UK Oil & Gas Authority following the announcement of provisional awards in May 2018.

“We believe these licenses to be highly prospective and we are in the process of commencing technical work to accelerate their development.”