Encore Oil PLC's Final results for the year ending 30 June 2010 were released this morning. Lots of good, solid stuff: sale of Breagh gas find (gain of £23m), strengthening the board, share buyback program below cash value, hiving off onshore portfolio to Egdon etc. But for me the key points were "Significant oil discovery at Catcher, up to 300mmbbls Oil in Place to date with substantial potential upside in the rest of the block... Cash of £41.9 million as at 30 June 2010... Debt free".  Together, this leaves Encore Oil (LON:EO.) excellently placed for the current Cladhan appraisal drilling and to return to appraise Catcher.

On Catcher, Alan Booth's CEO statement said:

The results of drilling at Catcher have opened up a new play fairway in this area of the North Sea.  We are especially excited at the number of additional prospects on the licence that appear to demonstrate similar seismic characteristics to our Catcher discovery. We intend to return to the Catcher block this autumn or early next spring, dependent upon rig availability, to drill between two and four additional exploration and appraisal wells.


It is possible that the Galaxy II (right), which drilled the original Catcher wells, may be available for this from mid September, see Jimarilo on ADVFN

Booth's Statement continues:

Further success on the block would suggest a cluster of oil accumulations with potentially many hundreds of millions of barrels of oil in place. The low cost of drilling, the ability to use either semi-submersible or jack-up rigs, together with outstanding reservoir and oil quality would be likely to make this a highly valuable discovery, with potentially significant strategic importance.

All music to shareholders ears :)  Semi-sub rates would be a lot more than jack-up rigs, so the suggestion that Encore could consider using one emphasises their desire to get on an appraise this fast, if jack-up availability is restrictive. Booth then goes on to emphasise that Encore may be a small E&P but it has a great deal of experince in taking North Sea discoveries through to production, with the implication that if Premier Oil (LON:PMO) want to take over the operatorship, they will have to pay for it:

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