UK-based Europa Oil & Gas and Kosmos Energy Ireland are shooting a 3D seismic acquisition program in the South Porcupine basin, offshore Ireland, using the M/V Polarcus Amani. Acquistion and processing will be complete by the end of 1Q 2014, according to Kosmos' Jon Cappon.
The Irish Government converted options to exploration licenses earlier this summer, awarding Europa and Kosmos frontier exploration licenses (FELs) 2/13 and 3/13.
Kosmos accelerated the conversion of the licensing options (11/07 and 11/08) into FELs in order to commence the 3D acquisition program.
Each FEL will last for a period of 15 years and has been divided into a maximum of four phases.
Under the first phase, which lasts for three years, Europa intends to acquire 740sq km of 3D seismic on each license, while in the second phase, which will last four years, the company is planning to drill an exploration well on each license.
The FELS cover about 1500 sq km in the Irish Atlantic margin; the undrilled licenses have been mapped using existing 2D seismic data.
Europa’s technical work identified two prospects in the Lower Cretaceous stratigraphic play: Mullen in FEL 2/13 and Kiernan in FEL 3/13, which it estimates to have gross mean un-risked indicative resources of 482 MMboe and 1.612 billion boe, respectively.
Kosmos will operate the FELs by holding 85% interest, while Europa will hold the remaining 15% interest.
Europa CEO, Hugh Mackay, said the early award of the full licences, along with the immediate commencement of the 3D seismic acquisition programme, clearly demonstrates Kosmos's intent to actively pursue in the South Porcupine basin similar Cretaceous plays to those that it pioneered in the Atlantic Margin basins offshore of West Africa.
"Out of all the licensing options awarded in the 2011 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round, the three operated by Kosmos, two of which Europa has a 15% interest in, are the first to be converted into FELs," Mackay added.
As per the farm-in agreement signed in April 2013, Kosmos will fully fund the costs of a 3D seismic program in the first phase of each FEL and pay 85% of costs incurred by Europa to date.
In the second phase of the FEL, which includes drilling, Kosmos will incur 100% of the costs of the first exploration well on each FEL. The first exploration wells on FEL 2/13 and FEL 3/13 have investment caps of US$90 million and US$110 million, respectively.
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