Cluff Natural Resources Plc has announced that further to the provisional award of promote licences in the UK’s 28th Offshore Licencing Round on November 7, 2014, it has now been formally awarded the five promote licences covering a total of eleven blocks by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

The company says that the selected blocks are located in an under-explored, emerging gas province of the Southern North Sea, with diverse, high-potential play fairways and trap types in the Carboniferous. Furthermore, significant interest in the area has recently been rejuvenated by breakthroughs in broadband 3-D seismic surveying technology, which acquires high resolution images below the Permian overburden.

Notable developments in the wider area include the completion of a multi-client 3-D survey (covering CLNR block 42/1 and part of CLNR blocks 41/5 and 41/10), the Pegasus West Gas Discovery (operated by Centrica, which flowed approximately 90MMscf/day on test from Namurian reservoirs), first gas production from the Breagh Field (operated by RWE Dea, estimated to contain nearly 600bcf of recoverable gas reserves) in October 2013 and on-going development of the Cygnus Gas Field (operated by GDF Suez) where first gas production is due in 2015.

All of CLNR’s newly awarded blocks are located in relatively shallow water where new conventional gas discoveries can be developed quickly and regional infrastructure is evolving rapidly, the company explained.

Promote licences

The five licences are awarded on a ‘Promote’ basis and accordingly have nominal work programmes of obtaining and reprocessing 2-D seismic data, as well as a 90% reduction in annual rentals during the initial two year period. Firm drilling commitments are not required until the end of the second year of the Licences in December 2016, by which time, the company notes, a full geological evaluation and resource assessment will have been completed.

Algy Cluff, Chairman and Chief Executive of CLNR, commented: “I am delighted to report that DECC has formally awarded our company these new gas licences in this emerging area of the Southern North Sea. CLNR already has a portfolio of eight offshore Underground Coal Gasification Licences totalling 613 km² in the UK and securing eleven North Sea gas blocks over 2,418 km² is a major achievement for the Company.

“This award further establishes our position as a natural resources investment company and underlines our commitment to the UK and to the North Sea where we see significant upside potential for shareholders. CLNR has a strong interest in delivering conventional gas to the UK as well as a determination to safely and cleanly convert offshore coal to gas using UCG technology.”

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

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