Australian oil firm Talon Petroleum said today that it had completed the acquisition of EnCounter Oil.
The transaction, first announced in January, gives Talon 100%-ownership of the Skymoos and Rocket prospects.
Skymoos could hold more than 100 million barrels of oil and is located in the outer Moray Firth near Equinor’s Verbier discovery.
The 27m barrel Rocket prospect lies in the Central Graben Area, near the Catcher field.
Talon said further appraisal and evaluation would be needed to firm up the estimates.
The company has launched a farm-out process to find industry partners who would help pay for exploration wells on Skymoos and Rocket.
Bosses at Talon said they had received “strong interest” and were “confident” of securing a farm-in partner for both assets in the near term.
EnCounter, based in Hertfordshire, was set up by former members of EnCore Oil, which was involved in discovering the Breagh and Catcher fields. Premier Oil bought EnCore in 2011 for £221 million.
EnCounter founder and UK North Sea exploration specialist Graham Dore
has joined Talon as a non-executive director, and Paul Young has been hired as its geoscience manager.
The acquisition is Talon’s second in the North Sea. The company swooped for a 10% stake in the Curlew-A discovery from Corallian Energy in October 2018.
Curlew-A is thought to contain 45 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). An appraisal well is slated for late 2019.
Talon also applied for an additional exploration licence in the UK Oil and Gas Authority’s 31st licensing round.
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