Project Profile
Value: Undisclosed
Location: Slyne Basin off the west coast of Ireland
Reserves: Unknown
Area: 611 sq km
In December 2006 Serica was awarded Irish Frontier Exploration Licence FEL 1/06, comprising blocks 27/4, 27/9 and part block 27/5, which together cover an area of 611 square kilometres in the Slyne Basin off the west coast of Ireland. Following a mandatory 50% relinquishment that was confirmed in September 2012, the blocks under Licence FEL 1/06 now cover an area of approximately 305 square kilometres. The blocks lie some 40 kilometres south of the Corrib discovery, which has reserves of approximately 800 billion cubic feet of gas.
As the result of reprocessing approximately 500 square kilometres of 3D seismic, four large Sherwood sandstone gas prospects were originally mapped, Bandon, Boyne, Achill and Liffey. In December 2008 the company completed a farm-in agreement with RWE Dea AG, under which RWE acquired a 50% interest in FEL 1/06 in return for contributing the bulk of the cost to drill the first exploration well.
Well 27/4-1 was spudded on 11th May 2009 to test the Bandon prospect and reached a total depth of 6,233 feet in the Sherwood sands. No gas was found but an oil accumulation in Jurassic sands was encountered and a sidetrack well 27/4-1z was drilled to confirm the discovery. Oil samples were taken in both wells for analysis. The discovery of oil has opened a new oil play in the Slyne Basin and enhanced the prospectivity of the blocks. Two deeper Jurassic oil prospects have now been identified at Boyne and Liffey, each with an underlying gas prospect in the Sherwood as proven by the Corrib field.
Operator:
Serica Energy: Operator with 50% interest
RWE: 50% interest