UK’s Serica Energy has signed a farm-in agreement with Perth-based oil and gas exploration player, Finder Energy, for an interest in a license in the Central North Sea.
Thanks to the deal, Serica will get a 40% interest in the P2530 license for an initial consideration of approximately £500,000, or around $650,000. Finder will retain a 20% interest in the license and stay on as operator. The remaining 40% interest in the license is held by Dana Petroleum.
In addition to the Wagtail oil discovery, the license encompasses the low-risk Marsh and Bancroft exploration prospects. Wagtail was discovered in 1986 and intersected an 11-meter net oil column in the Fulmar reservoir sandstones.
A high-end reprocessing of the seismic data was completed and integrated with new geotechnical studies, demonstrating the Wagtail Fulmar reservoir sands increase in thickness and quality towards the east of the discovery well.
Additionally, a pre-feasibility study was completed for the potential development of Wagtail via tieback to the Dana Petroleum-operated floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) Triton via the Pict field, situated 20 kilometers to the south.
The UK player recently received a letter from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) granting a nine-month extension to Phase B to August 31, 2026, and a 12-month extension to Phase C to August 31, 2028.
Once feasibility studies are performed, partners will decide whether to enter Phase C of the license and commit to drill an appraisal well on Wagtail or discontinue the license at the end of Phase B. Finder is now working to fulfill the remaining conditions precedent for the farm-in agreement to complete before the year’s end.
Meanwhile, Dana Petroleum recently restarted production from FPSO Triton after experiencing an issue with the flare system. This follows a series of repairs and restarts the operator has been facing since early 2025 .