Fastnet Oil & Gas plc the E&P company focused on near term exploration acreage in Morocco and the Celtic Sea, announced that an independent assessment of the Company’s prospective resources on licensing option 12/5 (“Shanagarry” or the “Licensing Option”) has been completed by SLR Consulting.
Fastnet farmed-into the licence on 14 November 2012 and now operates and holds an 82.35% working interest in Shanagarry following ministerial consent received on 8th April 2013. The independent assessment was carried out in accordance with generally accepted international standards.
49/19-1 covers an area of 123 sq. km., making it one of the more significant hydrocarbon-bearing structures in the North Celtic Sea. Four hydrocarbon-bearing intervals were encountered in 49/19-1, whilst the Upper Wealden may potentially be hydrocarbon-bearing updip from the well based on offset gas discoveries at Ardmore and Old Head.
Purbeck and Lower Wealden reservoirs, oil-bearing in 49/19-1, form the lowest risked reservoir objectives. STOIP estimates are higher than the published P50 estimates for the Middle and Basal Wealden reservoir intervals for Barryroe (April 2013).
The Kimmeridgian/Portlandian overpressured “tight gas” and Middle/Upper Jurassic gas-bearing intervals have also been evaluated. Subject to a scoping well design to address the issue of collecting the data required to model the potential for sustainable commercial flow rates, the “tight gas” potential prospective resources could be a viable add-on to a development of the conventional oil and gas prospective resources in the 49/19-1 Shanagarry structure, as a result of economies of scale should the area become a “hub” for appraisal and development. In such a case a number of currently stranded gas assets could also be developed as satellite tie-backs to the hub.
Commenting, Paul Griffiths, MD of Fastnet, said:
“SLR Consulting’s independent assessment confirms the significant resource potential of Shanagarry. 49/19-1 was drilled by Marathon in 1984 at a time of low oil and gas prices and prior to the discovery and appraisal of Barryroe (Basal Cretaceous oil) and the Dragon Field in Cardigan Bay (Basal Upper Jurassic gas and condensate).It covers an area of 123 sq. km. and is therefore comparable in size to the Kinsale gas field and Barryroe oil field structures. Geological similarities with both Deep Kinsale and Barryroe have now been independently confirmed by SLR Consulting. The addition of running room represented by our Deep Kinsale and 49/19-1 will be an additional positive factor in a potential farm-out or similar transaction. Indeed the prospective resources have now reached a critical threshold for a new entrant wishing to develop an appraisal and development hub in the central Celtic Sea adjacent to the Kinsale gas-gathering infrastructure.
“3D seismic over Deep Kinsale may mature prospects for drilling as early as 2014 as part of a multi-well drilling programme with other Celtic Sea operators. We believe the Celtic Sea is set to be transformed over the next 12 months as it once again becomes Ireland’s foremost oil and gas basin. Fastnet’s 3D seismic programmes and farm-out activity places the Company in a unique position in the Celtic Sea to provide running room for international oil companies seeking to add offshore Ireland to their “core area” portfolios.”
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Press Release, April 10, 2013