UKCS 31st Round Update

RNS Number : 8747R

Baron Oil PLC

01 November 2019

 

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

1 November 2019

Baron Oil Plc

("Baron" or "the Company")

UKCS 31^st Round Update

Baron Oil Plc (AIM:BOIL), the AIM-listed oil and gas exploration and production company focused on opportunities in the UK, Latin America and SE Asia, provides the following UK update to shareholders.

Due to a recent change in the demarcation of the landward versus seaward licensing boundary, which has now placed most of the Poole Bay area under landward jurisdiction, the joint venture group ("JVG") operated by Corallian Energy Limited ("Corallian") has been informed by the Oil & Gas Authority that the more prospective areas in Blocks 98/11b and 98/12, provisionally awarded to the JVG in the 31st Seaward Licensing Round ("31st Round"), cannot now form part of the area offered to the group. The revised Blocks now being offered are no longer adjacent to the Colter South discovery and no longer include the primary targets that had been identified as part of the application process.

As a result, the JVG has decided not to accept the petroleum licence offered over the remaining, seaward parts of blocks 98/11b and 98/12 as it does not fit with the Partners' strategy for developing Licence P1918. Note that this does not affect the existing Colter and Colter South Prospects in Block 98/11a (Licence P1918).

Elsewhere in the UK, having been formally awarded exclusive licenses P2470 and P2478 in the 31st Round over seven blocks and part blocks in the Inner Moray Firth, the Corallian-operated group is preparing to reprocess the existing 3D seismic data in order to define drillable locations. Multiple prospects have been identified here, including the Dunrobin prospect where Corallian estimates gross unrisked Pmean recoverable Prospective Resources of 187 mmboe. This award was formally announced on 20 September 2019 and Baron holds a 15% interest in each of the two licenses.

Competent Person's Statement

Pursuant to the requirements of the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, the technical information and resource reporting contained in this announcement has been reviewed by Dr Malcolm Butler BSc, PhD, FGS, Executive Chairman of the Company. Dr Butler has more than 45 years' experience as a petroleum geologist.  He has compiled, read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement, which complies with the Society of Petroleum Engineers' standard.

Malcolm Butler, Executive Chairman of Baron, commented:

"We agree with the group's decision to decline this amended petroleum licence. These changes do not affect our existing licenses and the areas of interest previously identified by the joint venture group remain unlicensed and can be considered for application in the next Landward Licensing Round."

"We are excited by the prospectivity of our two new Inner Moray Firth licenses and look forward to updating shareholders as we move forward with the evaluation."

For further information, please contact:

Baron Oil Plc	[phone]
Malcolm Butler, Executive Chairman
Andy Yeo, Managing Director
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP	[phone]
Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker
Stuart Gledhill, Richard Hail, Richard Redmayne
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited	[phone]
Joint Broker
Andy Thacker

 

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