PROVIDENCE RES. Providence Resources P.L.C - Operational Update - Frontier Exploration Licence 2/14 - Druid Southern Porcupin...
15 September 2016 - 4:01PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMPVR
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION
Operational Update
Frontier Exploration Licence 2/14 - Druid
Southern Porcupine Basin
-- Invitation to tender ("ITT") issued for the provision of a deep-water
drilling unit
-- Druid well design to allow for optional penetration of underlying Drombeg
prospect
-- Planned spud date for Druid well is June 2017
Dublin and London - September 15, 2016 - Providence Resources P.l.c.
(PVR LN, PRP ID), the Irish based Oil and Gas Exploration Company, today
provides an operational update on Frontier Exploration Licence ("FEL")
2/14, which lies in c. 2,250 metre water depth in the southern Porcupine
Basin and is located c. 220 kilometres off the south west coast of
Ireland. The licence is operated by Providence Resources P.l.c.
("Providence") (80%) on behalf of its partner Sosina Exploration Limited
("Sosina") (20%), collectively referred to the "Druid Partners". FEL
2/14 contains the Paleocene "Druid" and the Lower Cretaceous "Drombeg"
exploration prospects.
Issuance of Rig ITT
Further to the RNS of August 31, 2016, confirming the Druid Partners'
appointment of Senergy Wells Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of
Lloyds Register) to provide integrated well management services for the
planned 2017 Druid drilling programme, an invitation to tender for the
rig contract has now formally been issued to the market. It is
expected that the rig contract will be signed during Q4 2016 to
facilitate summer 2017 drilling.
Well Engineering & Design
The detailed well engineering and design for the 2017 Druid exploration
well is continuing with the well currently being designed to TD at a
depth of c. 4,200 metres true vertical depth subsea ("TVDSS"), which
allows for a full evaluation of the resource potential of the Paleocene
Druid exploration prospect. The well is also being designed to allow
for a potential deepening of the well to encounter the underlying
vertically stacked Lower Cretaceous Drombeg prospect at c. 5,200 m
TVDSS. This deepening could occur should the Druid exploration well be
drilled significantly within the current budget and/or if a third party
farminee were to provide additional capital to the project.
Well Cost Estimate
As disclosed by RNS on August 31, 2016, the latest gross (100%) well
cost for the Druid exploration well is now estimated at c. $35 million,
which compares to the previous estimate of $46 million. Based on the
latest market intelligence, the additional cost for the deepening of the
well to penetrate the Drombeg prospect amounts to c. $15 million.
Farm-out Process
As disclosed by RNS on March 11 2016, the Company launched a farm out
process in March 2016 with physical data-rooms commencing in late May
2016. The successful financial restructuring of the business with the
provision of specific capital to undertake the Druid drilling operations,
together with the substantially lower costs, has allowed the Druid
Partners to move forward with the planned drilling operations. Noting
the significant interest shown in the recent Atlantic Licensing Round,
the Druid Partners are continuing this farm-out process which has
garnered very good industry interest.
Project Timeline
In addition to the preparation and issuance of the ITT for the rig,
other service contracts are now being prepared for the planned Druid
drilling operations. Based on the latest project timeline and, subject
to standard regulatory consents, the 53/6-A Druid exploration well is
currently expected to spud in June 2017.
Speaking today, Tony O'Reilly, Chief Executive of Providence said:
"Thanks to the support of our shareholders, plus the substantially lower
forecast cost profile, we are making solid progress with our planned
drilling operations in FEL 2/14 for summer 2017. As previously stated,
our base case programme continues to be a test of the c. 3 BBO resource
potential of the Druid exploration prospect. We are, however, also
engineering the planned well to allow for the penetration of the
underlying c. 1.9 BBO Drombeg exploration prospect should the
opportunity arise."
INVESTOR ENQUIRIES
Providence Resources P.l.c. Tel: +353 1 219 4074
Tony O'Reilly, Chief Executive Officer
Cenkos Securities plc Tel: +44 131 220 9771
Neil McDonald/Derrick Lee
J&E Davy Tel: +353 1 679 6363
Anthony Farrell
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Powerscourt Tel: +44 207 250 1446
Lisa Kavanagh/Peter Ogden
Murray Consultants Tel: +353 1 498 0300
Pauline McAlester
ABOUT PROVIDENCE RESOURCES
Providence Resources is an Irish based Oil and Gas Exploration Company
with a portfolio of appraisal and exploration assets located offshore
Ireland. Providence's shares are quoted on AIM in London and the ESM in
Dublin.
ABOUT DRUID
During the initial pre-FEL 2/14 authorisation phase (Licensing Option
11/9 - 2011 through 2013), Providence and Sosina identified two large
vertically stacked Paleocene ('Druid') and Lower Cretaceous ('Drombeg')
fan systems with notable Class II amplitude versus offset ("AVO")
anomalies primarily from 2D seismic data acquired in 2008. Providence
and Sosina subsequently agreed to underwrite a multi-client 3D seismic
survey over the area. This 3D survey was acquired by Polarcus in the
summer of 2014 and subsequently processed by ION Geophysical in 2014/15.
In September 2015, the Company entered into a Strategic Exploration
Collaboration Project with Schlumberger.
In April 2016, the Company published the main results of this Project
relating to Druid:
-- Two fans located c. 1,750 m BML and structurally up-dip from a
potential significant fluid escape feature from the underlying
pre-Cretaceous Diablo Ridge
-- Cumulative in-place un-risked prospective resources of 3.180 BBO
(PMean)
o Fan 1 - 984 MMBO (PMean)
o Fan 2 - 2,196 MMBO (PMean)
-- Pre-stack seismic inversion and regional rock physics analysis shows
Druid is consistent with a highly porous (30%) and high net-gross, light
oil-filled sandstone reservoir system up to 85 metres thick
-- A depth conformant Class II AVO anomaly is present and synthetic
forward modelling of an oil-water contact correlates with the observed
seismic response
-- Spectral decomposition, seismic compactional drape and mounding are
reflective of a large sand-rich submarine fan system with no significant
internal faulting and clear demonstration of an up-dip trap mechanism
-- Geo-mechanical analysis using regional well and high resolution
seismic velocity data indicates that Druid is normally pressured and the
top seal is intact
ANNOUNCEMENT
This announcement has been reviewed by Dr John O'Sullivan, Technical
Director, Providence Resources P.l.c. John is a geology graduate of
University College, Cork and holds a Masters in Applied Geophysics from
the National University of Ireland, Galway. He also holds a Masters in
Technology Management from the Smurfit Graduate School of Business at
University College Dublin and a doctorate in Geology from Trinity
College Dublin. John is a Chartered Geologist and a Fellow of the
Geological Society of London. He is also a member of the Petroleum
Exploration Society of Great Britain, the Society of Petroleum Engineers
and the Geophysical Association of Ireland. John has more than 25 years
of experience in the oil and gas exploration and production industry
having previously worked with both Mobil and Marathon Oil. John is a
qualified person as defined in the guidance note for Mining Oil & Gas
Companies, March 2006 of the London Stock Exchange.
Definitions in this press release are consistent with SPE guidelines.
SPE/WPC/AAPG/SPEE Petroleum Resource Management System 2007 has been
used in preparing this announcement.
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf
of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information
contained therein.
Source: Providence Resources plc via Globenewswire
http://www.providenceresources.com/html/
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 15, 2016 02:01 ET (06:01 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Providence Resources (LSE:PVR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Providence Resources (LSE:PVR)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024