Falkland Oil & Gas (LON:FOGL) revealed today it is in early talks with firms interested in taking part in its exploration programme south of the islands.
But the company said it did not expect to conclude any farmout agreement until later this year.
Separately, FOGL said today it was planning to acquire some additional focused 2D seismic for its deeper Scotia and Hero prospects so that it can fine-tune the location of an exploration well on either of these two prospects.
Last month the firm revealed it had secured a rig contract for two slots and hopes to begin drilling on its prospects in the first three months of next year.
It came after it already confirmed it is to test the Loligo prospect - with estimated reserves of 4.7 billion barrels. That agreement - inked with Borders & Southern Petroleum and Ocean Rig 1 - is to use the the Leiv Eiriksson rig
The firm added then that it had sufficient funds for a second appriasal well on either Loligo, or on one of the other high ranked prospects such as Nimrod, Vinson or Inflexible and was considering targetting Scotia or Hero but this would involve additional cost due to their greater depth.
FOGL's chief executive Tim Bushell said today: "Since becoming operator and 100 percent owner of our licences on 31 March, we have secured a suitable rig, put in place funding for a 2 well programme and have established an experienced drilling management team.
"We have also accelerated all the other required work streams in preparation for our drilling programme which is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2012."
The firm said it had made progress in establishing a strong and experienced drilling team managed by Dave MacKay - a specialist in deepwater drilling. Mike Thomas has also joined as operations manager.
Also last month the executive council of the Falkland Islands approved the withdrawal of BHP Billiton from the northern licence area and the transfer of operatorship to FOGL.