On Aug. 4, Petro River Oil Corp. said that the analysis of its first exploratory well, Woodburn Forest #1, in Northern Ireland’s Larne Basin, confirmed the presence of an active petroleum system in the basin.
The well began drilling in May. Drilling detected background gas in the drilling fluid, which the consultancy Applied Petroleum Technology UK Ltd. reported was thermogenic, likely originating from deeper Carboniferous shales.
The discovery of thermogenic gas limits the risks associated with Petro River's Larne Basin exploration program by providing further evidence of a mature source rock within the basin, and supports Petro River's prior estimates of prospective resources of more than 1 billion barrels of potential oil and gas equivalents across the license.
Petro River said that the onshore license has been extended for a five-year period, during which time it will work with Horizon Energy Partners LLC and others on Phase II of the exploration program, which includes reprocessing 2-D and 3-D seismic data, and evaluating the offshore drilling program.
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