FAROE Petroleum, the Aberdeen-based oil and gas company, said yesterday it was planning to participate in three near-term wells in Norwegian waters, in each of which the company has a 10% interest.
Drilling has already begun on the first of the wells, on the Lundin-operated Hyme oil prospect, with the second to be drilled subsequently on the South East Tor oil discovery, also Lundin-operated, to appraise its potential.
The company also said that drilling by operator StatoilHydro would begin shortly on the “substantial” Grosso prospect.
Graham Stewart, chief executive of Faroe, said: “With the favourable Norwegian tax regime, under which 78% of exploration expenditure is repaid to us in the following year, Faroe is in an excellent position to realise the value of Norwegian exploration and appraisal assets with minimum cost exposure.”
Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens has forecast that oil prices will rise above $100 a barrel by the end of 2010 as the global economy recovers.
Speaking at an event in Houston, he said oil prices in the $40 a barrel range were not going to be around much longer and by late 2010 a global recovery would boost oil demand, pushing prices higher.
He added that if the US continued to rely on imported oil for 70% or more of its supply, prices could reach $200-$300 a barrel in another decade.