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Newly listed oil and gas exploration company Fastnet Oil & Gas plc (LSE:FAST) has secured licencing options to explore nine blocks in the North and South Celtic Sea off of Ireland, which may hold more than two billion barrels of oil in aggregate, the company released in a statement.
Ireland’s Department of Communications, Energy, and Natural Resources – Petroleum Affairs Division or PAD granted licence to the Irish-based company, which hopes to replicate the success made in the Barryroe discovery in offshore Ireland as well as the Wytch Farm oil field in Wessex, England.
Licencing Details
The licence areas are found within the Molly Malone and Mizzen Basins, which surround the recently discovered Barryroe oil field explored by Providence Resources.
“The Company believe that this basin offers an opportunity to develop an exploration concept incorporating all the elements of a working petroleum system tested in adjacent areas offshore southeast Ireland,” Fastnet’s statement read, referring to the Molly Malone Basin.
The Molly Malone Basin is 100 metres below sea level, which the company believes to contain as much as one billion barrels of oil, based on internal estimates, while the Mizzen Basin, 160 metres deep within the Celtic Basin, is also said to hold another one billion BOE.
Fastnet was granted an 18-month licencing option, during which time it intends to “purchase, reprocess and interpret some of the existing 2D seismic data, generate regional seismic ties and refine the model of the petroleum system”.
No well has been drilled on the nine blocks granted and Fastnet expects to produce a technical report by October 2013, using the €1 million fund for the programme.
CEO Comments
Fastnet’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Stephen Staley issued a statement with regards to the grant of licence options saying:
“I am very pleased to announce the award of these two highly prospective licence areas in the Celtic Sea, one of our key focus areas and which has received a lot of attention recently due to the recent successful appraisal of the large Barryroe discovery.”
“To have been granted these two licence options so soon in the Company’s development is testament to the team we have in place and the future potential of the business. I look forward to bringing shareholders further news on the Molly Malone and Mizzen licence areas as and when appropriate.”
Company Spotlight
Fastnet Oil & Gas plc was established through a reverse takeover of the AIM-listed company Sterling Green Group by Terra Energy Limited in May 2012 to form an independent oil and gas exploration company focusing on early stage exploration and appraisal opportunities, primarily in offshore Ireland and in Africa.
Based in Dublin, Ireland, Fastnet is listed on both the Enterprise Securities Market of the Irish Stock Exchange and the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.
Raising £10 million in its initial public offering on 11th June 2012, shares of Fastnet in London trading slipped 8.65% to 11.88 pence, at 2:30 PM GMT.
Source
Notification of Award of Licencing Options
References
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