Offshore staff
HAMILTON, Bermuda – Ireland’s government has awarded AzEire licensing options (LOs) over multiple blocks and part-blocks in the North Celtic Sea and Fastnet basins offshore southern Ireland.
The combined area totals around 3,163 sq km (1,221 sq mi) and will be held under a petroleum prospecting license for the duration of the LO.
The full list of blocks, awarded by the Minister for Communications, Climate Actions and Environment, is: | 63/14, 64/1, 56/10, 56/14, 56/15, 56/19 |
Part-blocks | 56/26, 56/27, 63/5, 63/8, 63/9, 63/10, 63/13, 63/15, 64/1, 64/2, 64/6, 56/5, 56/20, 57/1, 57/6 |
The LOs will expire on Nov. 30, 2019. Prior to expiry, AzEire has the option to apply for the transfer of some or all of the acreage to standard exploration license status.
The agreed work program includes reprocessing and integration of historic seismic data and well data and analysis of at least 500 km (310 mi) of broadband seismic that was acquired in 2013.
David Sturt, managing director, said: “These new license options [are] in an area which we believe is the true conjugate margin equivalent of the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous section in the Flemish Pass and Jean d’Arc basins offNewfoundland and Labrador.
“When we first started to look at this area we recognized the potential but the historic seismic data suffered severely from data quality issues caused by near-surface geology.
“We identified the need for a regional modern 2D broadband solution and pre-funded a 3,478-km (2,161-mi) 2D seismic survey in 2013. This data quality was significantly improved and illuminated the true potential of these basins. We are now looking forward to an aggressive exploration program on these new license areas.”
12/08/2016
