Europa Oil and Gas says it is to start seismic acquisitions for the South Porcupine Basin off Ireland after it was awarded frontier exploration licences for the site.
Europa and Kosmos had their options converted into exploration licences by the Irish Government ahead of starting seismic scans of the area.
The firm said Kosmos, as operator of the field, had secured permits and hired the MV Polarcus Amani to conduct 3D seismic assessment of the sites, which cover around 1500 square kilometers in the Irish Atlantic margin.
The licences have been mapped using existing 2D data and are undrilled, with estimates of 482million barrels of oil in one site and 1.6billion in the other.
“The early award of the full Licences, along with the immediate commencement of the 3D seismic acquisition programme, clearly demonstrate Kosmos’ intent to actively pursue in the South Porcupine basin similar Cretaceous plays to those that it pioneered in the Atlantic Margin basins offshore West Africa,” said Europa chief executive Hugh Mackay.
“The recent entry of Cairn Energy and Woodside Petroleum into the South Porcupine basin, together with the on-going drilling by ExxonMobil at the nearby Dunquin prospect, not only highlight the prospectivity of the basin but also the scale of the interest shown by leading names in the oil and gas industry.
“As a result of all this activity and with much more to come, the exploration vision of the early movers who participated in the 2011 licensing round has been endorsed. This is a hugely significant first step on the path towards realising the hydrocarbon potential of the Cretaceous stratigraphic play and we have done it a year early.”
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