Enegi has been offered two licences by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (“DECC”) in the 27th Seaward Licensing Round for the UKCS. These offers will be the Company’s first licences in the UKCS and the intention is to develop these in conjunction with ABTechnology (“ABT”) and its buoy technology.
The licences offered are Block 22/12b containing the Phoenix Discovery which showed a 30ft oil column and Block 3/23 (split – southern section) containing the Malvolio Prospect. Block 3/23 is located in the south-west margin of the East Shetland basin, and Block 22/12b is situated in the Forties-Montrose High area of the Central North Sea.
The applications for the two licences offered to Enegi were based on the identification and evaluation of assets which, in the Company’s opinion, were suitable for buoy technology as conventional development solutions may not be economically feasible. Of greatest importance in selecting these assets was a clear indication of the presence of hydrocarbons, remoteness from available infrastructure meaning that a small, standalone development solution would be necessary, and a physical environment that would allow a buoy to be successfully implemented.
Alan Minty, CEO of Enegi, commented: “Buoy technology is a game changing technology for the UKCS and we are delighted to have been awarded these blocks with a view to implementing it. These licences, which were specifically identified, are all in the optimum operating envelope for ABT’s buoy technology and we believe this technology offers the best chance of commercialising the discoveries and prospects that have already been identified on them. Our entry in the North Sea and collaboration with ABT is absolutely in line with our strategy of creating a diverse portfolio of assets with reduced risk; where previous exploration and appraisal activities have proved up the presence of hydrocarbons, whilst the economics have previously prohibited development of these assets.”
[mappress] Press Release, October 29, 2012