Ireland approves Iolar well in the Porcupine basin
May 28, 2019
Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Iolar prospect in license FEL 3/18 in the South Porcupine basin offshore western Ireland.
Offshore staff
DUBLIN, Ireland – The Minister of State at Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has approved CNOOC and ExxonMobil’s planned exploration well on the Iolar prospect offshore western Ireland.
The well will be drilled in license FEL 3/18 in the South Porcupine basin.
According to the Ministry, the location is a frontier, unexplored part of the Irish offshore. The well should provide information on prospect seal lithology, effectiveness and trap potential, and the results could help de-risk the Irish Atlantic Margin Middle Jurassic play.
Europa Oil and Gas commented that any discovery that may follow could de-risk around 1 Bboe in its pre-rift (Middle Jurassic) prospect inventory in licenses in the same area.
These include the Kiely East and Edgeworth prospects in FEL 2/13 and FEL 1/17 that the company is applying to cover via offshore site surveys – a pre-requisite for drilling.
Europa added that it was close to signing a new permit offshore Morocco.
