Faroe Petroleum reports the 20th Norwegian Licence Round award of its first licence in the southern part of the Norwegian Barents Sea, as announced by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

The new licence covers approximately 900 square kilometres and is located within blocks 7224/7, 8 and 11. Considerable prospectivity has been identified in several stratigraphic levels ranging from the Upper Triassic through to the Permian. The licence contains a large structural feature called the Samson Dome. The crest of this dome was drilled in 1988 by well 7224/7-1, which encountered hydrocarbon shows. The Zealand Prospect is a structural/stratigraphic trap located down-dip from this well, on the flank of the dome, where a wedge of clinoforms has been identified contained within a large structural closure. The licence area is adjacent to the recent discoveries in wells 7222/6-1, 7222/11-1 and 7224/6-1, all operated by Statoil.

The new licence partners are Faroe Petroleum (20%), together with BG (40% and operator), Statoil (20%) and Wintershall (20%). The licence work programme involves the acquisition of 3D seismic data to cover the licence, with a decision to drill to be taken within 3 years.

Graham Stewart, Chief Executive of Faroe, said, “Our team have been working to identify exploration opportunities in the high potential Barents Sea for some time, and have considerable experience in the area. Faroe Petroleum is therefore delighted to have been awarded this prestigious licence in the highly competitive 20th Norwegian Licensing Round. We are very pleased to be working with operator BG, who have an excellent track record in exploration, as do licence partners Statoil and Wintershall, both of whom we have existing partnerships with. The Barents Sea is an area which complements our strategic position in the Atlantic margin area of West of Shetlands and the Faroe Islands and secures further highly prospective exploration acreage for the Company. We have built a large portfolio of high quality licences in Norway, mainly through licence rounds, and this latest award demonstrates clearly our high level of technical competence and a continuing close relationship with the Major oil companies.”

Tags: Faroe Petroleum