Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) has been awarded a license in the Oil and Gas Authority's 2016 Supplementary Offshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round.
The license, comprising Block 48/25a, includes the western part of the Vulcan North West discovery that extends into 48/25a and also includes the Hogsback, Hobson and Goacher prospects.
IOG says Vulcan North West is a key part of the company's Vulcan Satellites hub development. It is a discovery with independently estimated P50 gas initially in place of 215 Bcf and 2C recoverable resources of 131 Bcf. Some 18% of the discovery is estimated to be in the new license 48/25a, so the award of this license secures 24 Bcf of 2C resources, says IOG.
IOG is currently working on its Vulcan Satellites field development, with all three fields in the project expected to be tied back to the Thames Pipeline, which is in the process of being acquired and recommissioned by IOG.
The new license will be included in the field development plan that is currently being drafted and will also be included in a new competent person report, that is being prepared by ERC Equipoise.
The CPR for the Blythe hub, consisting of the Blythe and Elgood fields, should be received within the coming weeks. The CPR for the Vulcan Satellites is targeted by the end of the third quarter.
Hogsback, Hobson and Goacher
The Hogsback Leman gas prospect is a tilted fault block to the west of Vulcan North West. It is on-trend and up-dip from the 48/24b-2 gas discovery drilled by Hess in 1990. IOG estimates it has a technical chance of success of 44%, with a most likely gas in place of 30 Bcf and most likely resources of 18 Bcfm of which 96% is on block.
Hobson is an oil discovery but currently there is significant uncertainty regarding its size with minimum, most likely and maximum oil in place estimates of 1 MMbbl, 2 MMbbl, 18 MMbbl, respectively. Some 59% of the Hobson discovery is on the newly awarded block. Should any decision be taken to drill, Hogsback and Hobson could be appraised with a single well.
Goacher is a Leman gas prospect which is a relatively low relief faulted anticline with a most likely gas in place of 71 Bcf. IOG currently estimates that the technical chance of success is 29% with 36% on the newly awarded block.
Mark Routh, CEO and Interim Chairman of IOG said: "We are on track to submit the Blythe/Elgood field development plan very soon and the Vulcan Satellites field development plan in Q3 2017, once the reservoir modelling work is finished. We expect to be releasing further news as each stage of the dual gas hub strategy reaches each significant milestone."