Hurricane Energy (AIM:HUR.L) listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), has tripled its estimate of recoverable oil from its Lancaster field in the North Sea.
The statement comes just over a week after the company announced an oil discovery in the Halifax well in the West Shetlands region, which it thinks could be Britain’s largest undeveloped oil find.
Hurricane Energy claim to have data that backs up the company’s view that the Lancaster field and Halifax well prospect is one single large hydrocarbon accumulation.
The firm’s chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Robert Trice said initial findings back up the idea that the two prospects are connected – forming one of the “largest undeveloped discovery on the UK Continental Shelf”.
As part of a day of presentations to analysts and investors, Hurricane said it had upgraded its recoverable resource estimate in the P50 bracket for the Lancaster field to 593 million barrels from 200 million in a 2013 assessment.
The recovery factor is sitting at 25%, the firm said in a report.
It said: “Given the planned approach to field development and the quality of the reservoir a recovery factor of 25% provides a target base case resource of 593 mmbbl
“It should be noted that a recovery factor in excess of 25% has been achieved by other basement fields, notably Zeit Bay, Bach Ho, Dongshenpu, Augila Nafoora, La Paz, and Wangzhuang.”
Hurricane say output from Lancaster is expected to start in the first half of 2019, with a daily production rate of 17,000 barrels expected soon after.
Doubts have already been expressed about hydrocarbon extraction from a fractured basement play like the Lancaster.
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