Faroe Petroleum has farmed into the U.K. Continental Shelf (UKCS) Agar Plantain exploration and appraisal well close to the U.K./Norwegian median line, operated by Azinor Catalyst Ltd., the company said Aug. 14.

The Plantain exploration prospect will be drilled first followed by a contingent side-track to appraise the Agar oil field, discovered in 2014. Operator volumes in Agar and Plantain have been estimated by Catalyst at a combined mid-case resource of 60 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe), with an upside case of 98 MMboe. Plantain is an Eocene oil prospect which follows on from the original Agar oil discovery in 2014 (9/14a-15A) and the analogous Frosk oil discovery (24/9-12 S) made in Norway by AkerBP earlier this year.

Drilling on Agar Plantain is currently scheduled to commence later this month using the Transocean Leader at a total estimated gross cost of US$15 million. Faroe joins Catalyst (25% and operator) and Cairn Energy Plc (50%) in this sole-risk well, the results of which will be announced on completion of drilling operations. Faroe’s equity interest in this well is 25%, to be funded through existing cash resources, and through the same transaction will also become a 12.5% equity interest holder in the wider P1763 License (Apache 50% and operator, Cairn 25%, Catalyst 12.5%).

This farm-in remains subject to the customary regulatory and third party consents.

“We are pleased to announce the Agar Plantain farm-in, targeting two oil prospects, adding a seventh well to our ongoing committed exploration and appraisal program and further increasing the near term upside potential in our growing asset base,” Graham Stewart, Faroe Petroleum’s CEO, said. “We look forward to working with Catalyst, as operator, to unlock the potential of the Agar Plantain prospect.”

Offshore