Farm-down of two exploration licences in Norway

Longboat Energy PLC

08 December 2023

 

Longboat Energy plc

("Longboat Energy", "Longboat" or the "Company")

Farm-down of two exploration licences in Norway

London, 8 December 2023 - Longboat Energy, an emerging full-cycle E&P company active in Norway and Malaysia, is pleased to announce that Longboat JAPEX Norge AS ("Longboat JAPEX") has farmed down two exploration licences on the Norwegian Continental Shelf ("NCS") through an agreement with Concedo AS ("Concedo").

Summary

·      In PL1182S, the Company has farmed down from 30% to 15% in return for a full carry of the  Lotus exploration well, up to an agreed cap above the dry well budget, which is expected to spud in Q3 2024

·      In PL1049 which contains the Jasmine and Sjøkreps prospects, Longboat JAPEX has farmed down from 40% to 25% in return for Concedo carrying 15% of the Company's 2024 exploration expenditure

Lotus exploration well (Company currently 30%)

Licence PL1182S lies in the prolific Northern North Sea, 4 km southeast of the Company's recent significant Kveikje discovery where Longboat JAPEX is a 10% equity partner.

The Lotus prospect (also named the Kjøttkake prospect by the licence operator) is comprised of Palaeocene injectite sandstones, characterised by excellent reservoir properties, and is supported by seismic amplitudes. Longboat JAPEX exploited its significant knowledge of injectite reservoirs, which are also the main reservoir in the Kveikje discovery, to secure the Lotus prospect in last year's APA 2022 licencing round.

Based on the internal estimates, Lotus contains gross mean prospective resources of 27 mmboe* with further potential upside estimated at 44 mmboe*. The chance of success is 54%* with the key risk being hydrocarbon retention.

If successful, Lotus/Kjøttkake is likely to form part of an area cluster development together with Kveikje and several other recent discoveries in the area, through infrastructure associated with the nearby giant Troll field.

The Lotus prospect will be drilled using the semi-submersible Deepsea Yantai and is expected to be drilled during Q3 2024. The licence partnership includes DNO Norge AS (40%, op) and Aker BP ASA (30%).

PL1049 Jasmine and Sjøkreps (Company currently 40%)

Longboat Energy Norge initially held 25% in PL1049 where the deep Cambozola prospects was drilled in 2022. The target for further exploration in the licence is the shallower levels and the licence has been stratigraphically split.  Two prospects have been mapped, Sjøkreps and Jasmine, both targeting Tertiary plays. The area is covered with new modern high quality seismic data and combined with new processing techniques, there is significant potential to de-risk the exploration prospects.

Sjøkreps is a fault-bounded three-way dip closure at Palaeocene level and has preliminary estimated recoverable volumes ranging between 20 to 300 mmboe** (P90-P10) with the main risk being presence and quality of reservoir.

The Jasmine prospect is an injectite target at Eocene level, which is analogous to the Kveikje discovery, and has recoverable volume range preliminarily estimated between 10 to 30 mmboe*** (P90-P10) with the main risk being reservoir presence and quality.

The work programme consists of seismic studies, potential seismic reprocessing and integration of results from ongoing and near-term wells targeting the same interval in the area, which combined have the potential to significantly improve the Chances of Success ahead of making a drill decision. The potential drilling decision has to be made by February 2025.

Helge Hammer, Chief Executive of Longboat, commented:

"We are pleased to announce the successful farm down of the two Norwegian exploration licences and the full carry of the Lotus exploration well cost, which is in line with our strategy to retain exposure to high quality exploration wells but at minimum use of the Company's equity capital, and we remain fully focussed on delivering on our plans to grow production and reserves in high quality assets in Norway and in SE Asia."

The information contained within this announcement is considered to be inside information prior to its release.

Ends

Enquiries: Longboat Energy via FTI Helge Hammer, Chief Executive Officer Jon Cooper, Chief Financial Officer Nick Ingrassia, Corporate Development Director Stifel (Nomad and Joint Broker) Tel: [phone] Callum Stewart Jason Grossman Ashton Clanfield Cavendish Capital Market Limited (Joint Broker) Tel: [phone] Neil McDonald                               Pete Lynch          Leif Powis           FTI Consulting (PR adviser) Tel: [phone] Ben Brewerton Rosie Corbett Catrin Trudgill [e-mail] * Resource figures and chance of success estimates on Lotus are from Longboat JAPEX's APA2022 application. ** Operator estimate *** LJN estimate Company Background Longboat Energy was established at the end of 2019 to create a full-cycle E&P company through value accretive M&A and near-field exploration. Longboat's initial focus has been in Norway where the Company has drilled eight exploration wells resulting in five hydrocarbon discoveries, representing a technical 63% success rate. In July 2023, Longboat completed a transaction with Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd ("JAPEX") to form a new joint venture company in Norway named Longboat JAPEX Norge AS. Under these arrangements, JAPEX will make a cash investment of up to US$50 million, of which US$16 million was paid on completion, for a 49.9% shareholding in of Longboat JAPEX Norge AS and provide the Joint Venture with a US$100 million Acquisition Financing Facility to finance acquisitions and associated development costs. Longboat retains 50.1% ownership in Longboat JAPEX Norge AS. Also in July 2023, Longboat JAPEX Norge AS announced its first production acquisition in Norway of interests in the Statfjord satellite fields, Statfjord Øst and Sygna. Longboat entered Malaysia in February 2023 through the award of a Production Sharing Contract for Block 2A, offshore Sarawak. Block 2A covers approx. 12,000km2 and is located in water depths of between 100-1,400 metres where a number of large prospects across multiple plays have been identified, with significant volume potential representing multiple trillions of cubic feet of gas. Longboat's activities remain focused on creating a portfolio with a clear low-cost route to monetisation and low-carbon drilling and development opportunities, well aligned to Longboat's ESG targets which includes a corporate 'Net Zero' on a Scope 1 and 2 basis by 2050.

Concedo Background

Concedo is a private Norwegian oil company focusing on exploration on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. In June 2023, Concedo announced the acquisition by Attica Exploration AS a newly formed private entity backed by Lundin family members.

Standard

Estimates of reserves and resources have been prepared in accordance with the June 2018 Petroleum Resources Management System ("PRMS") as the standard for classification and reporting with an effective date of 31 December 2020.

Review by Qualified Person

The technical information in this release has been reviewed by Hilde Salthe, Managing Director Norge, who is a qualified person for the purposes of the AIM Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies. Ms Salthe is a petroleum geologist with more than 20 years' experience in the oil and gas industry. Ms Salthe has a Master's Degree from Faculty of Applied Earth Sciences at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim.

Glossary

"mmboe"	Million barrels of oil equivalent
"NCS"	Norwegian Continental Shelf
"Prospective Resources"	those quantities of petroleum which are estimated, on a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations

 

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