TIDMBPC
RNS Number : 9667K
Bahamas Petroleum Company PLC
03 September 2019
3 September 2019
Bahamas Petroleum Company plc
("Bahamas Petroleum", "BPC" or the "Company")
Technical Update
On 21 August 2019 Bahamas Petroleum, the oil and gas exploration
company with significant prospective resources in licences in The
Commonwealth of The Bahamas, announced a coordinated approach
toward drilling an initial exploration well(s) in 2020.
Further to this, and also in support of ongoing farm-in /
funding discussions, the Company has continued to undertake a range
of related technical work to continue to systematically reduce and
mitigate play and prospect risk whilst also seeking to optimise the
location of the upcoming exploration well(s) targeting the large
structures that form the Company's sizeable prospect inventory. We
are pleased to update shareholders on the results of this work.
Summary
As the Company moves forward to drilling operations, the Company
has directed additional technical work in support of a successful
initial exploration well(s), by: (a) seeking to increase confidence
in the presence of hydrocarbons within the large structures to be
drilled and therefore further reducing the play and prospect risks
on the significant volumes of resource contained therein, and (b)
optimising the location of the proposed exploration well(s), so as
to maximise the chance of both operational and commercial
success.
Consistent with these objectives, over the last several months
the Company has undertaken four separate subsurface studies, in
each case making use of expert third-party consultants. A
description of and the conclusions derived from each study are
summarised below. Each of these studies has now been included in
the Company's extensive technical dataroom.
Taken collectively, these studies highlight the likely presence
and quality of a world-class source rock and petroleum system
located precisely in the BPC licence area, with charge and
migration pathways evident to deliver hydrocarbons into the
identified structures. The Company believes that hydrocarbon
indicators have now been established from the 3D data with the
reservoir rock demonstrating a well-developed fault and fracture
system that will significantly influence the final selection of
exploration well(s) drill sites so as to provide the highest
confidence of encountering hydrocarbons.
1. Seismic Attribute Mapping - Self Organising Maps (SOM)
To maximise the flow of fluids from the surrounding reservoir
into the well bore, it will be important to site the Company's
exploration well(s) in a location where the well bore intersects
the optimal site for the development of fault and fracture
systems.
The Company has thus undertaken a seismic attribute study of its
3D data, making use of leading-edge industry technology. The
objective of this study is to better determine the fracture and
fault network local to proposed well locations.
To date the Company has predicted that the structural thrusting
and folding genesis of the carbonate reservoir lithologies within
the drill prospects would naturally lead to significant fracturing
and thus enhanced reservoir quality. The attribute mapping study
has now clearly demonstrated the presence and delineation of an
extensive fracture and fault system within the 3D seismic area,
thus validating what had previously been predicted. The Company
considers this to be an extremely positive result. Increasing the
Company's understanding of reservoir porosity and permeability will
assist in the final, optimal positioning of the exploration well(s)
inside any potential 'sweet spots' within the fracture / faulting
network. This will maximize the chance of detecting hydrocarbons in
the exploration well, in a way that the Company expects would
maximize flow rates in a success case with knock-on impacts to
potential future production economics.
2. Geophysical / seismic interpretation
A common industry pre-drill evaluation step for exploration in
frontier basins is obtaining supporting geophysical evidence in the
form of amplitude, attribute or anomaly analysis of seismic data.
However, in the types of carbonate rock systems which characterise
BPC's prospects, detailed analysis is more complex than for other
rock systems. Notwithstanding this complexity, the Company has
successfully undertaken a detailed evaluation of seismic amplitude,
attribute and velocity from the Company's 3D data.
Importantly, these studies have demonstrated:
I. what the Company and its consultants believe to be direct
hydrocarbon indicators (DHI's), consistent with an indicative
presence of hydrocarbons within mapped structures;
II. strong amplitude conformance to structure, with amplitude
termination / switch-off against faults and variation with depth,
characteristics that are usually indicative of the presence of
reservoir porosity and permeability; and,
III. seismic interval velocity reduction and variations between
the target structure and the surrounding areas, characteristics
that are usually suggestive of fracture porosity within the folded
structure and detection of reservoir intervals within structural
closure.
In short, the Company considers the results of these studies to
be significant, in that they may directly indicate the presence of
hydrocarbons in the structure(s) at the intended drilling
location(s). This adds to the already sizeable body of evidence,
derived both internally and from independent advisors and experts,
in support of the Company's view that technical risk of the
prospects is relatively low, thereby increasing confidence in a
successful outcome of the exploration well(s).
3. Paleogeographic reconstruction
A Jurassic hydrocarbon source rock is ubiquitous across the
region, and is known to generate hydrocarbons in the major
production fields of the Gulf of Mexico and northern South America.
In order to further increase technical confidence for potential
petroleum systems and source rock distribution directly at the
location of the Company licences a detailed paleogeographic and
conjugate margin reconstruction study of the Caribbean, Northern
South America and West Africa has been undertaken.
This study has corroborated the likely presence of a Late
Jurassic oil-prone source rock and active petroleum system in the
Santaren Channel, which is the precise location of BPC's licences
and the intended drill site. This Late Jurassic source rock is
analogous to the Smackover interval producing in deep-water Eastern
US Gulf of Mexico, and has also been calibrated as the source of
nearby onshore Cuba oil production. This Late Jurassic source rock
is in addition to the previously recognised Early Cretaceous source
rock in the region, also sourcing production in nearby Cuba and
onshore Florida.
4. Cuban oil sample analysis
Through a reciprocal technical cooperation agreement with the
Cuban National Oil Company ("CUPET"), the Company accessed 3D
seismic data adjoining the BPC's licence areas in Cuban waters. In
addition, CUPET provided to BPC oil samples that were subsequently
independently analysed to assess the age and chemistry of the
source rock linked to onshore production in Cuba.
The Cuban 3D seismic and oil sample data has corroborated the
likely source rock charging the Company's drill prospects as late
Jurassic. This is the same age and type of petroleum system,
Bossier-Smackover, that charges the deepwater fields in the Eastern
US Gulf of Mexico and nearby Cuba.
Simon Potter, Chief Executive Officer of Bahamas Petroleum
Company, said:
"As we move forward operationally, and in view of ongoing
farm-in and funding discussions, we have continued to undertake
related technical studies. The objective of this work has been to
further reduce subsurface risk by demonstrating the existence and
quality of the petroleum system components, and also to optimise
the location of the wells we intend to drill. We are most
encouraged that these four most recent studies have each produced
positive results, which when taken together support the potential
presence of hydrocarbons in identified fractured networks, thereby
serving to further technically de-risk the drill candidates and
reconfirming our view that our prospects in The Bahamas represent a
drill ready, potentially multi-billion barrel prospect
inventory."
Regulatory Statements
In accordance with the AIM Note for Mining and Oil and Gas
Companies, Bahamas Petroleum Company discloses that Randolph
Hiscock, Bahamas Petroleum Company Technical Lead is the qualified
person who has reviewed the technical information contained in this
document. He has a Masters in geology and is a member of the AAPG.
He has over 35 years' experience in the oil and gas industry.
Randolph Hiscock consents to the inclusion of the information in
the form and context in which it appears.
The information communicated in this announcement contains
inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market
Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.
For further information, please contact:
Bahamas Petroleum Company plc Tel: +44 (0) 1624
Simon Potter, Chief Executive Officer 647 882
Strand Hanson Limited - Nomad Tel: +44 (0) 20
Rory Murphy / James Spinney 7409 3494
Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited Tel: +44 (0) 207
Jerry Keen / Toby Gibbs 408 4090
CAMARCO Tel: +44 (0) 20
Billy Clegg / Gordon Poole / James Crothers 3757 4983
www.bpcplc.com
**** ENDS ****
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
UPDBLGDCUXGBGCD
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 03, 2019 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
Challenger Energy (LSE:CEG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Challenger Energy (LSE:CEG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024