Page 14 - Euroil Week 05 2020

EurOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
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infrastructure anticipated to be used is on-going. Prior to taking Final Investment Decision (FID), RockRose Energy will carry out further studies to ensure that both the subsurface delivery and the project economics are robust, particularly given the current challenging gas price.
The Cotton field lies 100 km east of Scarborough between the Kilmar and Garrow fields in both of which RockRose holds a 15% interest.
Richard T Strachan, CEO of Speedwell Energy Limited said: “Having identified the potential in Cotton some three years ago which was a relinquished asset going nowhere to one now where we have a draft Field Development Plan and a delivery team in place capable of bringing Cotton through to First Gas we are delighted that RockRose will now take over Cotton and are looking at how to potentially take it forward and we wish them all the best as they do so.”
Andrew Austin, executive Charmain
of RockRose said: “This acquisition gives RockRose the option of a significant amount of production and reserves in an area of the Southern North Sea Gas Basin in which we already have other producing assets. We look forward to carrying out further evaluation of the discovery prior to committing to FID.”
Speedwell Energy (UK), February 4 2020
Romania to control change
in final beneficiary of oil
concessions
Oil companies operating in Romania will be compelled to notify the state if they wish to
sell their concession rights, and the Romanian authorities will be able to veto a speci c sale transaction on grounds of national security, according to a dra emergency decree posted on the website of the economy ministry.
e decree stipulates that any transfer of an oil agreement can be done only with the government’s consent, even when the licence is transferred indirectly, through the change of shareholders in the company that owns the concession.
e target of the new regulations seems
to be the 50% participation that US company ExxonMobil holds in an o shore gas perimeter in the Black Sea and wants to sell. Russian group Lukoil is reportedly one of the bidders. Exxon mentioned that the concession right would
be sold by selling the nancial vehicle that is
a partner of OMV Petrom in the concession contract.
e National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANMR) can veto any transaction whereby a company that is not from the EU and is state- owned would end up having concession rights in Romania, and the government is entitled to
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terminate the oil agreements that are in force, at the proposal of ANRM, for reasons of national security, according to the dra decree.
bne IntelliNews, February 5 2020
EU to impose sanctions on
two Turkish individuals over
Cyprus drilling’
European Union diplomats are preparing to impose sanctions against two Turkish nationals in response to Turkey’s gas and oil exploring and drilling operations o the divided island of Cyprus, Bloomberg reported on February 4.
ey will face an asset freeze and travel bans, it said, citing two anonymous o cials. Greece and Cyprus accuse Ankara of infringing Nicosia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) with its activities. Turkey claims control of territorial waters that overlap with areas claimed by Cyprus, and supports territorial rights of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot republic in the northern part of the island, a state that is only recognised by Ankara.
“While the punitive measures won’t a ect Turkish companies in the hydrocarbon sector, they mark an extraordinary escalation against a country which is still o cially a candidate for EU membership,” the news agency reported.
e decision to target the Turkish nationals was reportedly reached at a meeting of EU diplomats in Brussels on February 4, with o cials yet to formally draw up the sanctions and have them signed.
bne IntelliNews, February 5 2020
Europa Oil & Gas gives up offshore Irish licence’
London-listed Europa Oil & Gas has elected to relinquish its interest in licensing option (LO) 16/19 in the South Porcupine Basin, o shore Ireland.
is follows the completion of the agreed work program, including a full technical assessment, which concluded that the prospectivity of LO 16/19 is limited, Europa said on February 5.
Delivery of all reporting requirements and relinquishment of LO 16/19 was con rmed
by the Petroleum A airs Division of the Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment (PAD) on February 3, 2020. e relinquishment has negligible impact on the value of Europa’s portfolio.
A er farming out a 70% interest in LO 16/19 to a subsidiary of Cairn Energy in March 2017, Europa retained a 30% interest in the licensing option. As part of the terms of the farm-out, Cairn funded a seismic acquisition program which was completed in 2018.
As a result, Europa’s accounting carrying cost for LO 16/19 was limited to £94,000, which will be written o in the current period.
e company estimates that relinquishment will result in the avoidance of full year costs of £105,000, based on Europa assuming 100% ownership and converting the LO into a frontier exploration licence (FEL).
Following the relinquishment of LO 16/19, Europa’s license position o shore Ireland comprises ve 100%-owned licenses. Multiple targets have been identi ed on seismic data across the licenses. Combined, these have
the potential to host gross mean un-risked prospective resources of 5.7 billion barrels oil equivalent in addition to the 1.5 tcf gas assigned to Europa’s agship Inishkea prospect on FEL 4/19 in the Slyne Basin.
Inishkea, which lies close to the 1 trillion cubic feet producing Corrib gas eld and associated infrastructure, has an estimated geological chance of success of one in three and is viewed as “infrastructure-led” exploration.
February 5 2020
PGNiG hopes to find more oil at Shrek
PGNiG Upstream Norway, a Norwegian unit of Polish oil and gas company PGNiG, has hired Applied Petroleum Technology to conduct
a post-drilling analysis of its recent Shrek discovery located in the Norwegian Sea in order to nd more oil.
APT said on February 6 that it would provide geochemical and biostratigraphic analyses to evaluate where in the reservoir the oil sits, its nature, and origin.
Geir Hansen, APT’s head of petroleum geochemistry, said: “ e results of our analyses will provide the operator and license partners with data that will further de-risk the Shrek prospect and, hopefully, enable them to nd more oil.”
e project is the company’s rst with PGNiG in Norway. APT expects to complete its geochemical and biostratigraphic analyses by the end of February.
PGNiG made its discovery on the Shrek prospect in the Norwegian Sea back in October 2019. Shrek is a notable prospect for PGNiG as it was the company’s rst operated exploration well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Based on preliminary estimates, Shrek’s recoverable resources range between 19mn and 38mn barrels of oil equivalent.
PGNiG Upstream Norway holds a 40% share in the PL838 license where the prospect is located. Aker BP and DEA Norge each hold a 30% interest.
e prospect is located about 210 km northwest of Bronnoysund, ve km from the Aker BP-operated Skarv eld, in which PGNiG holds an 11.9% interest.
PGNiG has previously stated that the partners in the licence would consider tying the discovery into the Skarv facility.
February 6 2020
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Week 05 06•February•2020