New exploration outfit Oyster Petroleum has acquired a package of licence interests west of Shetland, including a stake in a deepwater wildcat planned for drilling before the end of this year.

The company has snapped up a 9% interest from Ithaca Energy (UK) Ltd. in UK licences P1631 and P1832. These cover blocks 204/14c, 204/18b and 204/19c, where an exploration well is due to be drilled on the Handcross oil prospect. The probe will target a potential 150 MMbbl of reserves, and be drilled in a water depth of 980 m (3,215 ft) by the Stena Carron drillship.

Under the terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals and the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change consent, Oyster also will acquire Ithaca’s 33% interest in west of Shetland licence P2018, covering blocks 214/24b, 214, 29a and 214/30c and including the Ainslie prospect. The licence is operated by RWE Dea UK SNS Ltd.

Richard Morgan, CEO of Oyster (formed earlier this year), said: “The Handcross prospect offers material potential close to existing infrastructure as well as a near-term drilling opportunity. We are delighted to be working with Ithaca during the planning phase for the well. Ainslie offers attractive prospectivity within an emerging area in the West of Shetlands and we look forward to advancing the project with RWE and Premier.”

Handcross is a Palaeocene prospect in the Judd Basin, adjacent to the Suilven and Tornado discoveries, the latter of which lies just 5 km to the south. It is also just 15 km north-west of the producing Foinaven and Schiehallion fields, and has been described as a geological and geophysical lookalike to those fields.

After the transaction, the Handcross partners will be Ithaca (31%, operator), Edison (25%), RWE Dea (20%), Sussex Energy (15%) and Oyster (9%). Ithaca itself only acquired its interests in Handcross through the acquisition of the UK-listed company Valiant Petroleum earlier this year.

If a discovery was made on Handcross, it has already been lightly pencilled in by Ithaca as a likely standalone development, to be produced by either a leased or owned FPSO, with a modelled peak production rate of 62,500 b/d of oil.