Barryroe Oil Field Technical Update

RNS Number : 6370B

Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc

05 April 2013

 



Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc

("Lansdowne" or the "Company")

Barryroe Oil Field

 Technical Update

April 5^th 2013

Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc, the North Celtic Sea focussed, oil and gas exploration company, welcomes the announcement today of the technical update by Providence Resources plc ("Providence") on the Barryroe Oil Field (Lansdowne 20%).

The announcement by Providence reported the following:

·     BASAL WEALDEN OIL RESERVOIR RESOURCE AUDIT COMPLETE

o  Competent Person's Report ("CPR") resource audit by Netherland Sewell & Associates Inc.

·     TOTAL GROSS AUDITED ON-BLOCK BARRYROE 2C RECOVERABLE RESOURCES OF 346 MMBOE

Providence Resources P.l.c., ('Providence') the Irish oil and gas exploration and development  company, whose shares are quoted in London (AIM) and Dublin (ESM), is pleased to provide a resource update on the Barryroe oil field in the North Celtic Sea Basin, offshore Ireland. Providence (80%) operates Barryroe on behalf of its partner Lansdowne Oil and Gas plc (20%). The area which is located in Standard Exploration Licence (SEL) 1/11 and Licensing Option (LO) 12/4, lies in c. 100 metre water depth and is c. 50 kilometres off the south coast of Ireland.

Following acquisition and interpretation of the new 2011 3D seismic data together with the subsequent drilling and testing of the 48/24-10z Barryroe appraisal well in 2012, Providence retained the services of Netherland Sewell & Associates Inc. (NSAI) to carry out a third party contingent resource audit (CPR) of the in place hydrocarbon and recoverable resources for the Basal Wealden oil reservoir. NSAI have reported that the Basal Wealden oil reservoir has a 2C in-place gross on-block volume of 761 MMBO with recoverable resources of 266 MMBO and 187 BCF of associated gas, based on a 35% oil recovery factor.

A third party (CPR) audit of the overlying Middle Wealden, which was carried out by RPS Energy (RPS) in 2011, reported a 2C in-place gross on-block volume of 287 MMBO with technically recoverable resources of 45 MMBO and 21 BCF of associated gas, based on a 16% oil recovery factor.

The total combined audited gross on block 2C recoverable resources at Barryroe therefore amount to 346 MMBOE, comprising 311 MMBO and 207 BCF.

The following table summarises the range of total gross audited on-block Barryroe oil resources:

	1C	2C	3C
	(MMBO)	(MMBO)	(MMBO)
Basal Wealden STOIIP (NSAI)	338	761	1,135
Basal Wealden Recoverable (NSAI)	85	266	511
Middle Wealden STOIIP (RPS)	31	287	706
Middle Wealden Recoverable (RPS)	4	45	113
TOTAL STOIIP	369	1,048	1,841
TOTAL RECOVERABLE OIL RESOURCES	89	311	624

Note: The table above excludes recoverable solution gas (i.e. 207 BCF or 34.5 MMBOE in the 2C case)

Further incremental resource potential has been identified in logged hydrocarbon bearing intervals within stacked Lower Wealden and Purbeckian sandstones which Providence has previously estimated contains total associated P90, P50 & P10 in place oil resources of 456 MMBO, 778 MMBO & 1,165 MMBO respectively. As there is currently limited reservoir and well test data available over these two intervals, future well data over these specific zones would be required in order to firm up their associated final recoverable resource estimates.

Speaking today, John O'Sullivan, Technical Director of Providence said,

"This is another very positive step for Barryroe. This third party resource audit by Netherland Sewell & Associates further validates the significant volumetric and recoverable resources of the Basal Wealden oil reservoir in the Barryroe Field, which Providence first reported on last summer. In addition, the audit has demonstrated that there are significant volumes of associated gas in solution.

Having now completed this audit, and having finalised Phase 2 development planning with Mott MacDonald, we will now proceed with our planned farm out discussions, where we have already received significant international industry interest. Finally, Providence will continue to work on the material resource potential associated with the Lower Wealden and Purbeckian logged hydrocarbon bearing reservoir intervals, which were encountered by previous wells drilled on the field."

Steve Boldy, CEO of Lansdowne, commented:

"We welcome today's encouraging third party resource audit which confirms the substantial recoverable resources at Barryroe and the scale of the Wealden oil play in the North Celtic Sea Basin. This endorses Lansdowne's view of the overall prospectivity and commercial attractiveness of the basin, in which Lansdowne holds an extensive acreage position. We look forward to working with Providence to further progress the additional potential in the Lower Wealden and Purbeckian sandstones".

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For further information please contact:

Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc Steve Boldy	[phone]
Cenkos Securities plc Jon Fitzpatrick Neil McDonald	[phone] [phone]
FTI Consulting Billy Clegg Georgia Mann	[phone] [phone]

Qualified Person Review

This release has been reviewed by Stephen Boldy, Chief Executive of Lansdowne, who is a petroleum geologist with 32 years' experience in petroleum exploration and management. Dr. Boldy has consented to the inclusion of the technical information in this release in the form and context in which it appears.

Notes to Editors

About Lansdowne

Lansdowne Oil & Gas (LOGP.LN) is a North Celtic Sea focussed, oil and gas exploration company quoted on the AIM market and head quartered in Dublin.

Lansdowne holds extensive acreage, with the largest proprietary 3D seismic database in the North Celtic Sea basin, an emerging under-explored province. Lansdowne has a balanced, technically mature portfolio position, covering both highly prospective oil and gas prospects, in three play types with substantial equity stakes and adjacent to existing infrastructure.

In addition to its 20% stake in the transformational Barryroe field, Lansdowne has three drill ready prospects defined on 2011 3D seismic data , with a farm-out data room exercise on-going to identify partners for a three well drilling programme in 2013/14.

About Barryroe

The Barryroe Field lies in the North Celtic Sea Basin and has had six wells successfully drilled on the structure. Hydrocarbons have been logged in all six wells with flow test results from four wells. Four wells were drilled in the 1970's by Esso with a further appraisal well drilled in 1990 by Marathon Oil. The last well, 48/24-10z, was drilled by Providence in 2011/2012. The field is covered by both 2D and 3D seismic. The successfully tested reservoir sands are of Cretaceous Middle and Lower Wealden age located between c. 4,500' TVDSS and 7,550' TVDSS. The oil is light (43^o API) with a wax content of c. 17-20%. Lansdowne holds a 20% interest in the licence, which is operated by Providence who hold the remaining 80% interest.

SPE/WPC/AAPG/SPEE Petroleum Resource Management System 2007 has been used in preparing this announcement

Definitions

MMBO	Millions of Barrels of Oil
STOIIP	Stock Tank Oil Initially In Place
BCF	Billion Cubic Feet of Gas

PETROLEUM RESERVES AND RESOURCES CLASSIFICATION AND DEFINITIONS

A discovery is one petroleum accumulation, or several petroleum accumulations collectively, for which one or several exploratory wells have established through testing, sampling, and/or logging the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons. In this context, "significant"implies that there is evidence of a sufficient quantity if petroleum to justify estimating the in-place volume demonstrated by the well(s) and for evaluating the potential for economic recovery. Estimated recoverable quantities within such a discovered (known) accumulation(s) shall be initially classified as Contingent Resources pending definition of projects with sufficient chance of commercial development to reclassify all, or a portion, as Reserves. Where in-place hydrocarbons are identified but are not considered currently recoverable, such quantities may be classified as Discovered Unrecoverable, if considered appropriate for resources management purposes; a portion of these quantities may become recoverable resources in the future as commercial circumstances change or technological developments occur.

Contingent Resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from known accumulations, but the applied project(s) are not yet considered mature enough for commercial development due to one or more contingencies. Contingent Resources may include, for example, projects for which there are currently no viable markets, or where commercial recovery is dependent on technology under development, or where evaluation of the accumulation is insufficient to clearly assess commerciality. Contingent Resources are further categorised in accordance with the level of certainty associated with the estimates and may be subclassified based on project maturity and/or characterized by their economic status.

For Reserves, the general cumulative terms low/best/high estimates are denoted by 1P/2P/3P respectively.

For Contingent Resources, the general cumulative terms low/best/high estimates are denoted 1C/2C/3C respectively.

For more information on Lansdowne, please refer to www.lansdowneoilandgas.com

 

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