Frontier Exploration Licence 6/14
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ASSET: |
NEWGRANGE |
The Company currently holds an 80% working interest in FEL 6/14, with partner Sosina. The licence lies in the Goban Spur Basin, some 260 km off the south-west coast of Ireland, in c. 1,000 m water depth.
History
FEL 6/14 was originally awarded to the Company (80%) and its partner Sosina (20%) in October 2011 as LO 11/11 during the 2011 Irish Atlantic Margin Round. In April 2014, LO 11/11 was converted into FEL 6/14 with the same working interests.
The Newgrange prospect is a similar Lower Cretaceous carbonate play-type to the previously drilled Dunquin North residual oil accumulation located in FEL 3/04.
The Newgrange prospect is located in c. 1,000 m water depth. However, it is notable that the crest of the Cretaceous closure is just c. 500 m below the seabed which means that this prospect should be particularly cost-effective to drill. The previously drilled 62/7-1 well, which was located c. 30 km from the Newgrange prospect and was drilled down-structure, encountered hydrocarbon shows in sands of Lower Jurassic age indicating the presence of an active petroleum system.
In 2014, a non-exclusive multi-client 2D seismic survey was acquired over Newgrange and the surrounding area, of which the Company licenced c. 2,500 line km of data. Geopressure analysis from these newly acquired 2D seismic data indicates the likely presence of top-seal at Newgrange. Pre-stack seismic inversion and rock physics analysis showed low acoustic impedance, indicative of good quality reservoir within the Lower Cretaceous section. Mapping of these newly acquired 2D seismic data indicated the pre-rift Base Cretaceous Newgrange structural closure to be much larger than previously thought covering a total area of c. 1,800 km2 with c. 1,000 km2 within the Company’s licenced area. In 2016, the Irish government awarded multiple Licensing Options in the surrounding southern Porcupine/Goban Spur area – with notable licensees including ExxonMobil, Statoil, Nexen-CNOOC, Woodside & Eni (in conjunction with BP).
In July 2016, the second phase results from the Schlumberger exploration collaboration project were released. The results supported top seal and reservoir presence for the Cretaceous Newgrange target. The estimated gross un-risked Prospective Resource potential for Newgrange is estimated to be c. 13.6 TSCF GIIP or c. 9.2 BBO STOIIP. In addition, top seal capacity analysis indicates the potential for a hydrocarbon column of up to c. 350 m.
In 2017, the Company elected to advance the preparations for drilling of Newgrange and accordingly, the Company has applied for consent to carry out an exploration well site survey, with Gardline being awarded the contract to carry out such survey, which is expected to commence in Q3 2018. Additionally, the Company is running a farm-out data room process where there is good industry interest.