25th Nov 2019 14:30
(Alliance News) - Cluff Natural Resources PLC has applied for a range of new licences in the UK's latest offshore licensing round.
Following six licence awards in the 2018 round, Cluff has submitted "multiple" applications focusing on its core operational area of the Southern Gas Basin and Central North Sea.
Cluff has applied for overlooked or less well understood assets, those with close proximity to existing infrastructure, and those into which it could bring in partners.
Cluff believes the UK Oil & Gas Authority will make its decisions on licence awards in the second quarter of 2020.
On the operational front, Cluff believes processing of data from a 3D seismic survey at the Pensacola prospect will come in mid-2020, before an investment decision for a well in a year's time.
At Selene, Cluff is looking at data with partner Royal Dutch Shell PLC before a well decision is made, while at Dewar a "significant" amount of interest has been received after it was put to a farm-out process.
Cluff is interpreting new data from the Cupertino prospect, but said the area will likely need more data to be collected before any drilling target can be identified. It plans to get the data via a farm-out.
Lastly, at Cortez, the firm is looking to start reprocessing historic 2D seismic data, expecting a "significant" uplift in data quality.
"We have made significant investment in this latest licensing round which has allowed us to submit multiple high quality applications in our core areas of the Southern North Sea and Central North Sea where we have already demonstrated success," said Chief Executive Graham Swindells.
"The blocks applied for contain a number of drilled discoveries, undrilled prospects and leads and, if awarded, will build scale, further diversifying the investment portfolio and significantly enhancing the company's resource base which we anticipate will create a strong pipeline of future drilling opportunities.
"We are also very pleased with the significant progress being made on the existing portfolio, in particular on the Pensacola and Selene licences, which Shell farmed into earlier this year, as we work towards a firm well commitment on Selene and Pensacola. Furthermore, our farm out process on the Dewar prospect has generated significant interest which we believe will strengthen with the licensing round behind us," Swindells continued.
Cluff shares were 3.7% higher on Monday afternoon at a price of 1.37 pence each.
By George Collard; [email protected]
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