Spain's Repsol could start drilling offshore the Canary Islands this year after the Spanish government gave the firm the go-ahead.
The government's Industry Ministry approved drilling plans by Repsol in a resolution dated 11 August and published today (13 August) in the Official Bulletin, reported Bloomberg. The move follows the award of environmental permits earlier this year.
Image: Blocks 1-9. Image from Repsol.
Repsol operates Blocks 1-9 offshore the Canary Islands. The Spanish company’s partners are Australia's Woodside Energy and German power company RWE, who farmed in to the blocks in 2002. The blocks were suspended in 2004, before being reactivated again in 2012, after environmental challenges and government delays.
According to RWE, Blocks 1-9, east of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, in the Aaiun-Tarfaya sedimentary basin, have "substantial resource base in Tertiary and Cretaceous targets." The main targets are Miocene to Paleocene-aged submarine fans and channels.
RWE, which at one stage was marketing its stake in the blocks, has previously said the area has three Tertiary "ready to drill" prospects on top of salt structures with unrisked mean prospective oil resources of 482MMbbl.
Under its concession, dated 2012, Repsol and its partner have commitments to drill two wells and additional geological and geophysical studies, by Q1 2016, according RWE.
If the drilling is successful, Madrid-based Repsol has estimated it will spend as much as Euro7.5 billion (US$10 billion) to develop the site in waters near the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, off Africa’s west coast, Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg says Repsol expects to begin work before year-end. Geologists have estimated the area between the Canaries and Morocco may hold enough petroleum to supply about 10 percent of national demand at full production levels.
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