21st Feb 2014 08:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ithaca Energy Inc Friday said excellent quality oil has been found during exploration drilling on a license it will partly own at the Trell Prospect in the Norwegian North Sea.
The North Sea oil and gas producer said the operator and 40% owner of the PL102 F/G license, Total E&P Norge AS, drilled the well to 2240 metres subsea and intersected 19 metres of net pay from the 25/5-9 well in the Heimdal formation at a location close to existing infrastructure.
The company, which is taking a 10% working interest in the license, said wireline logs and pressure data confirmed hydrocarbon contact and preliminary analysis places the size of the discovery between 3.1 and 12.5 million barrels of recoverable oil.
Ithaca entered into an agreement with Total in December 2013 to acquire a 10% working interest in the licence and completion of the transaction is currently progressing through regulatory consents.
The company said the agreement is consistent with its strategy of gaining access to lower risk exploration opportunities capable of bringing in cash prior to development.
The other PL102 F/G licensees are Petoro AS, which holds 30%, Lotos Exploration and Production Norge AS, which holds 10%, and Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA, which holds 10%.
The news comes a week after Ithaca announced that its 204/18b-2A exploration well at the Handcross prospect in the North Sea was being plugged and abandoned after failing to find hydrocarbons.
Ithaca Energy shares were up 4.7% to 138.00 pence in early trading Friday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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