An oil and gas concession totaling about 234,000 acres in the Cantabrian Basin in Spain was awarded to BNK Petroleum Inc.’s wholly owned subsidiary, Trofagas Hidrocarburos.

The concession was acquired mainly for shale gas targets, but it also has some conventional oil and gas potential. In the most prospective areas, the primary target is a Jurassic-aged shale, which based on available information, ranges from 100 to over 200 m (330 to 660 ft) in gross thickness at depths of about 2,500 to 4,500 m (8,250 to 14,850 ft).

The structure and stratigraphy are defined by numerous existing 2D seismic lines and dozens of wells which were drilled by other operators. Most of the previously drilled wells had oil and/or gas shows in the shale interval as well as in fractured carbonates both above and below the shale.  The fractured carbonates are the conventional targets.

The concession terms include certain minimum requirements, which include conducting geological work in the first year, and drilling two wells each in years two, three and four and three wells in year five.

This concession brings the company’s total acreage in Europe to about 3.8 million net acres in five separate basins.

In Poland, the company, with Saponis Investments, has commenced completion operations on the Lebork S-1 well that entails rigging up equipment, cleaning out the wellbore and performing formation evaluation tests prior to fracture stimulations.