Offshore staff
BERGEN, Norway and TORSHAVN, Faroe Islands – Statoil has agreed on deals to increase its stake in license PL 602 in the Norwegian Sea by 12.5%. The license, in the Vøring basin, is immediately west of the deepwater Aasta Hansteen field development that is due to come onstream in 2017.
Rocksource will sell its 10% share and then exit the license, whileAtlantic Petroleum will farm down its interest from 10% to 7.5%. Both transactions remain subject to approval by the Norwegian government.
Following the changes, the PL 602 partnership has committed to drill a well to test the Roald Rygg prospect later this year. According to Atlantic, there are other prospects and leads that could warrant investigation.
CEO Ben Arabo said: “This well has the potential to deliver significant gas resources in an area where gas infrastructure is being developed.”
In addition, Atlantic has granted Statoil an option to farm into 20% of licenses PL 704, PL 705 and 10% of PL 802, all in the western part of the Vøring basin and close to the Asterix gas discovery. All contain prospects and leads, within the same play model as proven by Asterix.
This spring the partners are due to make a drill-or-drop decision for PL 705. If they decide to continue, a well should follow in 2016 with Statoil to carry Atlantic’s costs. For PL 802 and PL 704 the drill-or-drop deadline is in 2017.
02/23/2015
