Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 12 2023

LatAmOil FALKLAND ISLANDS LatAmOil

Rockhopper says Navitas may

make FID on Sea Lion in 2024

ROCKHOPPER (UK), a partner in the Sea Lion gain Premier’s operatorship of Sea Lion.
project offshore the Falkland Islands, confirmed The development plan that Navitas drew up
last week that a final investment decision (FID) after the merger consists of a staged approach.
may be reached in 2024. The company made Rockhopper has concluded that this repre-
an announcement to this effect after Navitas sents a material reduction in both upfront and
Petroleum (Israel), the operator of the project, life-of-field costs compared to previous plans.
presented an updated version of its project It maps out the drilling of 18 new wells during
development plan. the first phase, with 11 of these coming before
Having discovered the Sea Lion field within first oil. Meanwhile, an additional five wells will
Block PL032 in 2010, Rockhopper revealed last be drilled in the second phase, within about 42
year that it had decided to work alongside Navi- months of first oil.
tas in the North Falkland basin. It agreed to sign “Having successfully re-defined the project,
a deal giving Navitas a 65% stake in its portfo- work will now focus on refining the financing
lio and operatorship of the relevant assets and plan with a view to reaching FID during 2024,”
which allowed it to retain a 35% stake. Rockhopper said. “In the meantime, technical
Subsequently, the companies agreed to work work streams continue to further refine the pro-
together to develop a technical plan under ject, with Navitas focused on driving further
which Navitas Petroleum would farm into the project optimisations.”
Sea Lion project with the goal of extracting oil at According to Navitas’ Sea Lion Phase 1 and 2
a lower cost and on an expedited basis. Accord- Development outline, a total of 23 wells will be
ingly, Navitas acquired Premier Oil (UK) from drilled during the life of the project, which will
Harbour Energy (UK), a company established involve the extraction of 269mn barrels of oil.
through Premier’s merger with another share- Production costs are expected to average $27.60
holder, Chrysaor Holdings. That allowed it to per barrel during the project’s lifetime. ™

ARGENTINA
Excelsior FSRU will interrupt German

charter for seasonal service in Argentina

EXCELERATE Energy has confirmed that its
floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU)
Excelsior will serve as an LNG import facility on
a seasonal basis at the Bahia Blanca terminal in
Argentina before heading to Germany later this
year to start a five-year contract.
In its 2022 result report, published on March
27, the US-based company said it had signed
a five-year charter agreement for the 138,000-
cubic metre vessel in October 2022. Under that
agreement, the Excelsior will serve as the second
FSRU-based facility that E.ON of Germany, Tree
Energy Solutions (TES) of Belgium and Engie of The Excelsior FSRU will be in Argentina for the summer (Photo: Excelerate Energy)
France are developing in Wilhelmshaven.
The charter hire for the FSRU began in Argentina before returning to Germany in the
February of this year. However, the vessel will third quarter of 2023.
temporarily provide seasonal regasification Excelerate won a seasonal charter contract
service at the Bahia Blanca GasPort terminal in earlier this month.

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