Provisional Award of UKCS Licences

RNS Number : 0103P

Cluff Natural Resources plc

23 May 2018

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

23 May 2018

Cluff Natural Resources Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: CLNR / Sector: Natural Resources

Cluff Natural Resources Plc ('CLNR' or 'the Company')

Provisional Award of UKCS Licences - 30^th Offshore Licensing Round

Cluff Natural Resources Plc, the AIM quoted natural resources investing company with a high impact exploration and appraisal portfolio focused on the Southern North Sea gas basin, is pleased to announce that it has been provisionally awarded licences covering 10 full and part blocks, by the UK Oil and Gas Authority in the UK's 30^th Offshore Licencing Round. 

The blocks provisionally awarded to CLNR are as follows:

Southern North Sea                  42/14, 42/15b

                                                43/7, 43/8

                                                48/8b

                                                47/10d, 48/6d (25% equity stake, Parkmead are Operator)

Central North Sea                    22/19f

                                                22/24f (part), 22/25c (part)                 

With the exception of blocks 47/10d and 48/6d, all blocks are being awarded to CLNR on a 100% equity position.

The Board views these blocks as highly prospective with many containing undeveloped discoveries and exploration upside which significantly enhances both the pipeline of potential drilling opportunities and the overall prospective resources associated with the Company's portfolio.

Southern North Sea Awards

The Southern North Sea blocks provisionally awarded to CLNR contain a number of drilled discoveries, undrilled prospects and leads with an estimated combined unrisked P50 prospective resources of approximately 1.9 TCF net to CLNR.  The firm work programme associated with Phase A of the initial term of the licences is restricted to data acquisition, reprocessing and sub-surface studies, and is focussed on providing greater clarity around prospect volumetrics and risk.

Blocks	Key Prospect ID	Prospect Age	Status Lead/Play/Discovery	Net Prospective Resources (BCF)			GCoS (%)
				P90	P50	P10
42/14 42/15b	Furasta	Triassic	D	7.2	17.6	29.6	100
	Burbank		P	70	200	567	32
	Cortez	Carboniferous	L	24	107	433	29
	Cortez South		L	129	331	732	28
43/7 43/8	Cupertino - Scremerston	Carboniferous	L	69	262	914	21
	Cupertino - Fell Sst		L	147	558	2,090	19
48/8b	Sloop	Permian	D	7	18	38	100
	Selene		P	191	253	328	38
	Endymion		L	36	48	62	27
	Rig & Jib		L	11	29	58	35
47/10d 48/6d	Bob (Teviot)	Permian	D	2.75	5.5	10.25	100
	Blackadder		P	17.75	28.25	42.5	45
TOTALS**				712	1,857	5,304

*Volumes and risks from P2107 Relinquishment Report

** Totals are not compliant with PRMS standards and rounded to nearest BCF

Central North Sea Awards

Blocks 22/24f (part) & 22/25c (part) are located in a relatively under explored area of the Central North Sea, adjacent to the large Marnock-Skua field.  The blocks contain the Tesla Discovery (well 22/24a-11) in the Pentland Formation and the low risk Dewar prospect in the Forties Sandstone.  Previous Operators have also proposed leads in the deeper Jurassic formations which require further assessment during the initial phases of the licence.

Block 22/19f is located in the Central North Sea and contain multi-level oil prospectivity in the proven Fulmar, Skagerrak and Rotliegend formations.  Previous Operators have identified a large number of prospects and leads which require further assessment during the initial phase of the licence.

Commenting Graham Swindells, said:

"We are delighted to have been awarded these additional licences by the UK Oil & Gas Authority which are a direct result of the hard work that our technical team has put into the application process. This is a substantial award over multiple blocks which builds on the Company's core competencies focussed primarily on the Southern North Sea. While the Company's primary focus remains Southern North Sea gas, we are also very pleased to have been awarded blocks in the Central North Sea which contain oil prospects, further enhancing and diversifying our portfolio. The blocks awarded contain a number of drilled discoveries, undrilled prospects and leads and build scale, further diversifying the investment portfolio and significantly enhancing the Company's resource base which we anticipate will create a significant pipeline of future drilling opportunities."

Qualified Person

Andrew Nunn, a Chartered Geologist and Chief Operating Officer of CLNR, is a "Qualified Person" in accordance with the Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies, June 2009, of the London Stock Exchange. Andrew has reviewed and approved the information contained within this announcement.

Glossary of Technical Terms

PRMS:                         Petroleum Resources Management System (2007)

BCF:                                        Billion Cubic Feet 

Mmboe:                        Million barrels of oil equivalent

Prospective Resources:  Are estimated volumes associated with undiscovered accumulations. These represent quantities of petroleum which are estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from oil and gas deposits identified on the basis of indirect evidence but which have not yet been drilled.

Chance of Success:       for prospective resources, means the chance or probability of discovering hydrocarbons in sufficient quantity for them to be tested to the surface.  This, then, is the chance or probability of the prospective resource maturing into a contingent resource.  Prospective resources have both an associated chance of discovery (geological chance of success) and a chance of development (economic, regulatory, market and facility, corporate commitment and political risks).  The chance of commerciality is the product of these two risk components.  These estimates have been risked for chance of discovery but not for chance of development.

TCF:                             Trillion Cubic Feet

P90 resource:               reflects a volume estimate that, assuming the accumulation is developed, there is a 90% probability that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the estimate.  This is therefore a low estimate of resource.

P50 resource:               reflects a volume estimate that, assuming the accumulation is developed, there is a 50% probability that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the estimate.  This is therefore a median or best case estimate of resource.

P10 resource:               reflects a volume estimate that, assuming the accumulation is developed, there is a 10% probability that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the estimate.  This is therefore a high estimate of resource.

The Prospective Resources have been presented in accordance with the 2007 Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) prepared by the Oil and Gas Reserves Committee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), reviewed, and jointly sponsored by the World Petroleum Council (WPC), the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE).

**ENDS**

For further information please contact the following:

Cluff Natural Resources Plc                                                     Tel: [phone]  Algy Cluff / Graham Swindells / Andrew Nunn           Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker)                                                Tel: [phone] David Hart / Alex Brearley / Asha Chotai (Corporate Finance) Camarco Ltd                                                  Tel: [phone] James Crothers / Owen Roberts (Financial PR)

Notes to Editors

Cluff Natural Resources is a natural resources investing company listed on the AIM market on the London Stock Exchange (CLNR.L) primarily focussed on the Southern North Sea gas basin, with a high impact portfolio of operated, high working interest exploration and appraisal assets.

In addition to the 30^th Round licences awarded today, the Company have 100% of Licenses P2248 and P2252 in the North Sea gas basin with a significant P50 prospective resource base of 2.4Tcf across 11 prospects with chances of success ranging from 9 to 49%. Cluff Natural Resources is focused on extracting much needed gas from the North Sea to supply the UK's energy mix which is currently heavily reliant on foreign supply. The Company is focussed on securing partners and funding to embark on a drilling campaign on the proven fairways of the Southern North Sea basin in 2019.

The Company has a strong institutional investor base and a portfolio which offers a unique opportunity of high quality, low risk and low-cost drilling prospects with potentially high impact results in an area where recent exploration has targeted both mature and new plays and has resulted in large discoveries.

 

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