TIDMALBA
RNS Number : 1802V
Alba Mineral Resources PLC
24 October 2014
For Immediate Release, 7 am
24 October 2014
Alba Mineral Resources PLC
("Alba" or the "Company")
Portland Oil Discovery, Horse Hill-1, Weald Basin UK
Alba Mineral Resources PLC (AIM: ALBA) today announces that,
following preliminary evaluation of the electric logs, the Horse
Hill-1 well has discovered an oil accumulation in the conventional
Upper Jurassic Portland Sandstone at a top reservoir depth of 1,791
feet TVDss.
A preliminary most likely estimate of 3.1 million barrels
("mmbbls") of gross in place hydrocarbon volume has been calculated
within the upper Portland, with a further gross unrisked in place
prospective hydrocarbon volume of 16.8 mmbbls of oil in a separate
lower sand in the Portland interval located in an untested fault
block to the south. As previously announced, the well is being
deepened to the Triassic where an additional target, believed to
have potential for gas, is expected to be reached in the next two
weeks.
The Portland Sandstone was previously reported on 16 October
2014 to have oil shows in cuttings and elevated gas readings whilst
drilling and these indications have been confirmed by independent
petrophysical analysis of the electric logs acquired in the well
during the last week. Further analysis is continuing to establish
the recoverable volume of oil that has been discovered.
Michael Nott, Alba's CEO, commented:
"We are delighted with the results so far from this well. The
presence of a larger, unappraised, Portland feature creates
considerable further upside. We are now looking forward to drilling
the Triassic, which is a new and untested exploration target in the
area and which, if successful, may contain appreciable volumes of
gas."
The Horse Hill-1 well is located on the northern side of the
Weald Basin near Gatwick Airport. Alba owns a 5% interest in Horse
Hill Developments Limited ("HHDL"), a special purpose company. HHDL
owns a 65% participating interest and is the operator of onshore
licences PEDL 137 and the adjacent licence PEDL 246 in the Weald
Basin. The participants in the Horse Hill-1 well are HHDL with a
65% working interest and Magellan Petroleum Corporation with a 35%
interest. Alba's net interest in any discovery is 3.25%.
Additional analysis:
The upper Portland Sandstone reservoir, which produces at the
nearby Brockham oil field, was also intersected by the Collendean
Farm-1 exploration approximately 790 metres north of the Horse
Hill-1 well. Using the solely available 2D seismic data and the
well results, the operator has mapped an area of closure of
approximately 3.8 square kilometres where the Portland Sandstone is
above the observed oil down to a depth of 1,901 feet TVDss. The
presence of two wells within the same mapped structural closure
significantly increases the confidence in a commercial discovery
and there is every indication that the Portland reservoir can be
developed as a commercial oil field.
The gross oil bearing upper Portland Sandstone interval in Horse
Hill-1 measures 102 feet, has an average porosity of over 16% and
average oil saturation is estimated as 36%. Based on regional and
local trends, confirmed by wells at Brockham, these reservoir
parameters indicate a high likelihood of production at commercial
rates. The equivalent interval in the Collendean Farm-1 well,
drilled by Esso in 1964, shows similar reservoir characteristics
over a 97 foot gross interval. The gross oil column contained
within the Horse Hill-Collendean Farm structure is in excess of 140
feet.
The lower Portland Sandstone reservoir, which is seen to be
water wet in Horse Hill-1 and Collendean Farm-1, lies above the oil
down to an untested fault block to the south of the Horse Hill-1
well and is interpreted to contain a prospective most likely in
place oil gross volume of 16.8 mmbbls.
The Corallian Sandstone and Great Oolite targets in the Horse
Hill-1 well are not seen on electric logging to contain moveable
hydrocarbons, however, further evaluation of several thick
Kimmeridgian-age limestones, which had hydrocarbon shows and
elevated mud gas readings whilst drilling, may provide additional
oil potential within the well.
Low, medium and high estimates of Portland oil in place are
summarised in Table 1.
Table 1: Estimated gross in place discovered and undiscovered
oil volumes
mmbbls, in-place-oil Low (P90) Medium (P50) High (P10)
---------------------- ---------- ------------- -----------
Discovered 1.5 3.1 4.8
---------------------- ---------- ------------- -----------
Undiscovered 7.8 16.8 29.7
---------------------- ---------- ------------- -----------
The gross in place hydrocarbon volumes have been prepared by
Stephen Sanderson acting as the competent person on behalf of
HHDL.
Volumes have been prepared using the methodologies and standards
published by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
The gross in place hydrocarbon volumes presented should not be
considered as either contingent resources or reserves.
Competent Person's Statement:
The technical information contained in this announcement has,
for the purposes of the AIM Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas
companies, been reviewed and approved by Jonathan
Tidswell-Pretorius, Executive Director at HHDL and Chairman of
Angus Energy Ltd, a UK registered onshore operator who has 15 years
of relevant experience in the oil and gas industry. Mr.
Tidswell-Pretorius is a member of the Society of Petroleum
Engineers and United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG) industry
bodies.
Glossary:
2D seismic seismic data collected using the two-dimensional
common depth point method
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
contingent resources those quantities of petroleum estimated,
as of a given date, to be potentially
recoverable from known accumulations,
but the applied project(s) are not
yet considered mature enough for commercial
development due to one or more contingencies.
Contingent Resources may include,
for example, projects for which there
are currently no viable markets, or
where commercial recovery is dependent
on technology under development, or
where evaluation of the accumulation
is insufficient to clearly assess
commerciality
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
discovered/discovery a discovery is a petroleum accumulation
for which one or several exploratory
wells have established through testing,
sampling and/or logging the existence
of a significant quantity of potentially
moveable hydrocarbons
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
electric logs tools used within the wellbore to
measure the rock and fluid properties
of surrounding rock formations
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
mmbbls million barrels
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
oil down to the deepest level where oil saturation
is measured at the base of a porous
reservoir where it directly overlies
rock of very low porosity and permeability
where no reliable oil water contact
can be established
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
oil in place the quantity of oil or petroleum that
is estimated to exist originally in
naturally occurring accumulations
before any extraction or production
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
oil saturation the percentage of available pore space
within the reservoir containing oil
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
P10 a 10% probability that a stated volume
will be equalled or exceeded
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
P50 a 50% probability that a stated volume
will be equalled or exceeded
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
P90 a 90% probability that a stated volume
will be equalled or exceeded
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
porosity the percentage of void space in a
rock formation, where the void may
contain, for example, water or petroleum
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
reserves those quantities of petroleum anticipated
to be commercially recoverable by
application of development projects
to known accumulations at a given
date forward under defined conditions
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
TVDss true vertical depth below a subsea
datum
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
undiscovered those quantities of petroleum which
are estimated, as of a given date,
to be contained within accumulations
that have not been tested by drilling
--------------------- -------------------------------------------------
For further information:
Alba Mineral Resources plc
Michael Nott, CEO +44 (0) 20 3696 4616
Cairn Financial Advisers
LLP
Avi Robinson/ James Caithie
Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers +44 (0) 20 7148 7900
Limited:
Jason Robertson/ Neil Badger +44 (0) 1293 517 744
Notes to Editors:
Alba holds interests in Mauritania (uranium: JV with FOSSE
Investments Limited) and Ireland (base metals). It also owns a 5
per cent interest in Horse Hill Developments Limited, the company
which owns a 65 per cent participating interest and operatorship of
the Horse Hill oil and gas project. The projects are at different
stages of development. The Mauritania uranium project comprises
early phase exploration targets, whereas drilling has been
undertaken on the Irish base metals project. The Horse Hill-1 well
is now being drilled and the operator is planning to drill to a
depth of 8,512 feet, targeting a number of conventional stacked oil
and gas targets.
Alba continues actively to review and discuss other project
opportunities which have value enhancing potential for the Company
whether by acquisition, farm in or joint venture in a range of
jurisdictions around the world.
ENDS
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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