Sterling Resources Ltd that it has been successful in the final portion of the UK 26th Offshore Licensing Round awards, which were recently announced by the UK Department of Energy and Climate change (DECC). The initial portion of the UK 26th Licensing Round was previously awarded and announced in November of 2010.
Sterling has been successful in its application for two additional licenses in the UK Southern North Sea gas basin. These traditional license awards cover four part blocks and are located in areas adjacent to current gas production and include a previous undeveloped gas discovery. Sterling will operate both licenses and currently holds a 100 percent working interest.
The first license contains portions of Blocks 43/15a and 43/20a and the main exploration play is an Intra-Carboniferous structure which is partially covered by 3D seismic. The prospect lies just to the northeast of the Cavendish gas field and the Keplar gas discovery. Target formations are the Carboniferous Westphalian and Namurian formations which are present at Cavendish. The license area also includes the now abandoned Gordon Field, which produced from the Triassic Bunter formation. Any drilling to the Carboniferous prospect will collect data from the shallower Triassic horizon to provide information on its suitability for potential gas storage. Early activity will focus on the future acquisition of seismic to ensure complete coverage of the prospect.
The second license contains portions of Blocks 49/18b and 49/19b which holds an undeveloped gas discovery and an additional prospect and further leads with the target horizon being the Rotliegend Leman sandstone. The discovery lies to the north of the Indefatigable field and the other prospect and leads are to the north of the Brigantine complex. The Leman sandstone is of high quality and the old discovery well (drilled in 1995) tested in excess of 40 MMscfd. Both blocks are covered by a merged 3D dataset and the early work will focus on the reprocessing (PSDM) of the existing dataset.
Sterling has also been successful in its application for a license in the Central North Sea, covering Block 16/3d which contains part of the Cairngorm discovery. This application was originally made by Stratic Energy Corporation (now Enquest PLC) and Sterling on a 50 / 50 basis.
[mappress] Offshore Energy Today Staff, January 12, 2012; Image: Sterling Resources