Vessels

Offshore Falklands Sea Lion partners working on reduced capex concept

May 31, 2022

Rockhopper and Navitas are considering use of a redeployed FPSO for their Sea Lion field development in the offshore North Falkland Basin.

In January 2020, Rockhopper and Premier signed a detailed Heads of Terms with Navitas Petroleum for a 30% interest in the Sea Lion project.

Offshore staff

LONDON — Rockhopper and Navitas are considering use of a redeployed FPSO for their Sea Lion field development in the offshore North Falkland Basin.

Rockhopper is the largest acreage holder in the Falkland Islands, holding interests in the North Falkland Basin and in the South & East Falkland Basin.

The present target is to reach a final investment decision in 2023 or 2024 and to have formal project sanction as early in 2024 as possible, Rockhopper said in its latest trading statement.

Pre-first oil capex could come down substantially from the previously estimated $1.8 billion (assuming a leased FPSO, the company added, through reducing both the number of wells and drill centers planned by the previous regime, led by Premier Oil).

Navitas commissioned Netherland, Sewell & Associates (NSAI) to produce a resource report adopting a different approach to the ERCE 2016 report. NSAI concluded that the 2C resources for Sea Lion are significantly larger than the 517 MMbbl estimated by ERCE.

Although Navitas has not formally taken over as operator of the project and license holder, it is in a position to hold conversations with contractors on the new development plan, Rockhopper said.

05.31.2022