Offshore staff
ATHENS, Greece – The Greek Ministry of Energy has agreed to convert Energean Oil & Gas’ exploration license for the offshore West Katakolon field into a 25-year exploitation license.
The 60-sq km (23-sq mi) exploitation area, part of theKatakolon Concession Area, holds a proven 10 MMbbl of recoverable oil. Energean will operate the $50-million field development.
West Katakolon will be the third oil and gas field to undergo developmentoffshore Greece, following the Prinos oil and South Kavala gas fields in the North Aegean Sea, also operated by Energean.
The company intends to submit a field development plan (FDP) to the Ministry of Energy by the end of February, with extended-reach drilling from an onshore location into the offshore reservoirs starting in 2018.
This will be Energean’s third offshore FDP over the next few years alongside those for the 15-MMbblEpsilon oil field in the Prinos Concession, and development of the much larger Karish and Tanin gas fields (2.4 tcf combined) offshore Israel.
Recently Energean recently acquired Karish and Tanin from Delek Drilling and Avner for $148 million.
Mathios Rigas, CEO of Energean, said Katakolon would be “a first step in seeking to open up the oil and gas opportunities in this highly promising territory – an area with similar geology to the wider Adriatic zone, well known for its prolific hydrocarbon systems in Italy, Albania, and Croatia.
“During what has been a challenging period for the industry, Energean has taken advantage of its strong cash flow from Prinos to make sure it is well placed for a recovery in the oil price. It has continued to invest through the low point in the upstream cycle, not least through increasing the 2P and 2C reserves up to 60 MMbbl in total and bringingPrinos up to 5,000 b/d production.
“Energean is aiming to increase this to 10,000 b/d by 2018 through an ongoing $200-million investment program with low break even costs.”
The company is collaborating in its various projects with BP, Schlumberger, Archer, and DNV GL, and uses its own drilling rigs, support vessels, and infrastructure.
11/29/2016
