Orcadian Energy plc has been granted a three-year extension until 1 December 2028 to the second term of licence P2244, containing the Pilot field, in the UK central North Sea.
POTENTIAL
The company has an 18.75% carried interest in the licence, with Ping Petroleum UK plc holding 81.25% of the project.
The Malyasian operator is currently preparing a revised sub-surface description of the field, supported with TGS ASA’s 3D seismic, ahead of a final investment decision.
“Pilot can be a new low-carbon hub on the Western Platform in the central North Sea with the potential to produce a total recoverable resource of well over 100 mmbbl from Pilot and adjacent discoveries,” said chief executive officer Steve Brown.
“Exploration success and renewed licensing of near-infrastructure discoveries could raise the potential recovery from this hub to nearly 500 mmbbl.
“This licence extension [gives] our operator the time and space to design a low-emissions development scheme that can thrive in the post-EPL [Energy Profits Levy] fiscal regime that has been proposed and consulted on by [the] Treasury, which everyone in the industry is awaiting with bated breath and which is the fiscal regime that matters for Orcadian’s projects.”
The North Sea Transition Authority granted the licence time extension.