Oil & Gas Corporate News
Rockhopper (LON:RKH) Exploration (BUY, £5.00) (RKH, 381.25p, ? (0.33%)) announced that the 14/10-3 exploration well was spudded at 1700hrs GMT on 13 January 2011. 14/10-3 is located 8km North West of the Sea Lion 14/10-2 discovery well on Licence PL032, which Rockhopper operates and holds a 100% working interest in. The well is located on the undrilled northern lobe of the Sea Lion fan system. The well will also penetrate the distal, downdip portion of the newly-identified and underlying S2 fan body which has been mapped over an area of 42km2. 14/10-3 is situated outside of the Sea Lion Discovery Area. Total depth is planned to be ca. 3,000m. Drilling operations are expected to take approximately 38 days and a further announcement will be made once drilling is completed. It is currently anticipated that, on completion of operations on 14/10-3 Rockhopper will drill 14/10-4, an appraisal well on the southern lobe of the Sea Lion fan system within the Discovery Area, before the rig is released.
Comment: The new well is located to the North of the discovery well and will test the northern lobe of the Sea Lion fan complex which looks, from seismic mapping, to be fed from a different sediments source. We understand the seismic attributes are similar to that at the discovery well location, hence limiting the risk although the 8km distance is a large outstep from that data point and reservoir/seal risk is far from negligible.
San Leon Energy (LON:SLE) (BUY, £0.65) (SLE, 30p, ? (0.84%)) has received government approval for the acquisition of 100% interests in three concessions located in the southern area of the Fore Sudetic Monocline of the Permian Basin, onshore western Poland, as previously announced on 15 November 2010. The approval is for the transfer of the two concessions 20/2009/p Winsko and 39/2009/p Rawicz, from Mazovia Energy Resources and for the takeover of Gora Energy Resources, including the 30/2088p Gora Concession, from Mazovia Energy. These three Concessions are adjacent to the Company's existing Nowa Sol and Wschowa Concessions, and have expanded San Leon's position in western Poland from 2,245km2 to 3,560km2 in the unexplored deeper Carboniferous play, which is prevalent across these Concessions.
Comment: The Government approval and confirmation of the transfer of ownership is good news for San Leon. The stock…
