Independent Oil & Gas (LON:IOG)
Independent Oil & Gas (IOG)# has been awarded a new licence (Block 48/25a) by the UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) in the 2016 supplementary Offshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round. The licence includes the western part of the Vulcan North West discovery that extends into 48/25a and also includes the Hogsback, Hobson and Goacher prospects.
Vulcan North West
Vulcan North West is a key part of the Company's Vulcan Satellites hub development. It is a discovery with independently estimated P50 gas initially in place of 215 BCF and 2C recoverable resources of 131 BCF. 18% of the discovery is estimated to be in the new licence 48/25a, so the award of this licence secures 24 BCF of 2C resources for the Company.
The Vulcan Satellites field development planning is progressing very well with all three fields expected to be tied back to the Thames Pipeline which is in the process of being acquired and recommissioned by the Company.
The new licence will be included in the Field Development Plan ("FDP") that is currently being drafted and will also be included in the new Competent Person Report ("CPR") that is being prepared by ERC Equipoise. The CPR for the Blythe hub, consisting of the Blythe and Elgood fields, should be received within the coming weeks. The CPR for the Vulcan Satellites is targeted by the end of the third quarter.
Hogsback, Hobson and Goacher
The Hogsback Leman gas prospect is a tilted fault block to the west of Vulcan North West. It is on-trend and up-dip from the 48/24b-2 gas discovery drilled by Hess in 1990. It is estimated by the Company to have a technical chance of success of 44% with a most likely gas in place of 30 BCF and most likely resources of 18 BCF of which 96% is on block.
Hobson is an oil discovery but currently there is significant uncertainty regarding its size with minimum, most likely and maximum oil in place estimates of 1 MMBbls, 2 MMBbls, 18 MMBbls respectively. 59% of the Hobson discovery is on the newly awarded block. Should any decision be taken to drill, Hogsback and Hobson could be appraised with a single well.
Goacher is a Leman gas prospect which is a relatively low relief faulted anticline with a most likely gas in place of 71 BCF. The Company currently estimates that the technical chance of success is 29% with 36% on the newly awarded block.