Last checked at 4 Feb 2020 13:30
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.
4 February 2020
Baron Oil Plc
("Baron" or "the Company")
Information on the 1998 Chuditch-1 discovery (Timor-Leste)
Baron Oil Plc (AIM:BOIL) is pleased to announce that it has updated its website (www.baronoilplc.com) to include information on the TL-SO-19-16 PSC (the "Chuditch PSC") that has been derived from publicly released reports on the area prepared by Shell Development (Australia) Pty. Ltd. ("Shell") in 1998 and 2001 following the drilling of the Chuditch-1 discovery well. This well, was drilled in 64 metres water depth in a total of 25 days for US$8 million and encountered a 25m gas column in the Jurassic Plover formation on the flank of a faulted structure. The reports include estimates of gas in place and percentages recoverable that were defined by Shell's internal analyses and are therefore not compliant with the 2018 SPE PRMS Prospective Resources standard.
Key Points for the combined Chuditch, Chuditch North and Chuditch South closures ("Greater Chuditch") within the Chuditch PSC:
·; Total gross estimate of Mean gas in place (GIIP) of 2,320 BCF
·; Gas recovery expected by Shell to be in the range of 55% to 75%, leading to gross estimates of Mean recoverable gas of 1,276 to 1,740 BCF, considered by Baron to be Prospective Resources
·; Risks associated with trap, reservoir and charge for the Greater Chuditch closure were considered by Shell to be zero (that is, the Geological Chance of Success is assumed to be 100%), remaining uncertainty being on the volumes in place
Baron intends to invest in the Chuditch PSC project through its entitlement to a one third shareholding in SundaGas (Timor-Leste Sahul) Pte. Ltd. ("SundaGas TLS"), equating to an indirect net 25% interest in the Chuditch PSC.
Dr Malcolm Butler, Executive Chairman of Baron, commented:
"The information from the Shell reports gives a clear indication of the substantial potential for hydrocarbons within the Chuditch PSC and the reason that Baron has maintained its entitlement to invest into SundaGas TLS since 2016. Now that the Chuditch PSC has been confirmed and the guarantee bond posted, the work programme over the next three years is designed to further define the size of the Greater Chuditch accumulation and the potential of nearby untested prospects, through seismic reprocessing and drilling, in order to formulate plans for commercialisation. The figures computed by Shell clearly indicate the size of the potential prize.
"Much has changed in Timor-Leste since the late 1990's, including the declaration of independence in 2002 and ratification of the Maritime Boundary treaty with Australia in 2019. In addition, gas markets have grown tremendously in Asia Pacific and, in the Timor Sea region, gas infrastructure and associated LNG facilities have been established."
Competent Person's Statement
Pursuant to the requirements of the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil and Gas Companies, the technical information and resource reporting contained in this announcement has been reviewed by Dr Malcolm Butler BSc, PhD, FGS, Executive Chairman of the Company. Dr Butler has more than 45 years' experience as a petroleum geologist. He has compiled, read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement and indicated where it does not comply with the Society of Petroleum Engineers' standard.
For further information, please contact:
Baron Oil Plc | +44 (0)20 7117 2849 |
Dr Malcolm Butler, Executive Chairman |
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Andy Yeo, Managing Director |
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SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP | +44 (0)20 3470 0470 |
Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker |
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Stuart Gledhill, Stephen Wong |
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Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited | +44 (0)20 3657 0050 |
Joint Broker |
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Andy Thacker, Zoe Alexander |
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Glossary |
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BCF | Billion cubic feet. |
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Geological chance of success | The estimated probability that exploration activities will confirm the existence of a significant accumulation of potentially recoverable petroleum. |
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GIIP | Volume of natural gas initially in-place in a reservoir. |
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Prospective Resources | Quantities of petroleum that are estimated to exist originally in naturally occurring reservoirs, as of a given date. Crude oil in-place, natural gas in-place, and natural bitumen in-place are defined in the same manner. |
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SPE PRMS Prospective Resources | The Society of Petroleum Engineers' ("SPE") Petroleum Resources Management System ("PRMS") is a system developed for consistent and reliable definition, classification, and estimation of hydrocarbon resources prepared by the Oil and Gas Reserves Committee of SPE and approved by the SPE Board in June 2018 following input from six sponsoring societies: the World Petroleum Council, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, and the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts. quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development projects. The total quantity of petroleum that is estimated to exist originally in naturally occurring reservoirs, as of a given date. Crude oil in-place, natural gas in-place, and natural bitumen in-place are defined in the same manner. |
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Mean | Reflects a median or best case volume estimate of resource derived using probabilistic methodology. This is the mean of the probability distribution for the resource estimates and can be skewed by high resource numbers with relatively low probabilities. |