REG - Baron Oil PLC - UK Licence P2478– 2 Year Phase A Extension Granted

Baron OilAnnouncement

12/07/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 7076F  Baron Oil PLC  12 July 2023

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF REGULATION
11 OF THE MARKET ABUSE (AMENDMENT) (EU EXIT) REGULATIONS 2019/310.

12 July 2023

Baron Oil Plc

("Baron" or the "Company")

UK Licence P2478 Update - 2 Year Phase A Extension Granted

Baron Oil Plc (AIM:BOIL), the AIM-quoted oil and gas exploration and appraisal
company, notes today's announcement by Reabold Resources plc ("Reabold
Resources") in relation to offshore United Kingdom Licence P2478 (the
"Licence"), in which Baron holds a 32% interest. Reabold Resources is the
Licence administrator.

Extension Granted

The joint venture for offshore UK Licence P2478 has been granted a two year
extension to Phase A of the licence by the UK North Sea Transition Authority
("NSTA", formerly the Oil and Gas Authority). A 'Drill or Drop' decision is
now required on or before 14 July 2025.

The extension has been made via a Deed of Variation to the Licence, which
stipulates an additional commitment to acquire a minimum of 30 square
kilometres of 3D seismic data.

Jon Ford, Technical Director of Baron, commented:

"We are very pleased to have received this extension, having worked
persuasively with our joint venture partners and the NSTA to justify this
further technical work programme aimed at completing the 3D coverage over the
Dunrobin West prospect and gaining further insights into the prospective
reservoir. The aim is to further reduce pre-drill risks and volumetric
uncertainty before re-engaging with potentially interested third parties in
respect of drilling an exploration well.

"We are grateful to the Licence administrator Reabold Resources and the NSTA
for their efforts in establishing this way forward for the Licence, which
recognises the quality of the technical work achieved to date and the progress
being made towards the potential drilling of a relatively low cost and low
risk exploration well on a material prospect."

 For further information, please contact:                       +44 (0) 20 7117 2849

 Baron Oil Plc
 Andy Yeo, Chief Executive

 Allenby Capital Limited                                        +44 (0) 20 3328 5656
 Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker
 Alex Brearley, Nick Harriss, George Payne (Corporate Finance)
 Kelly Gardiner (Sales and Corporate Broking)

 Cenkos Securities Plc                                          +44 (0) 131 220 6939 / +44 (0) 207 397 8900
 Joint Broker
 Neil McDonald, Pearl Kellie (Corporate Finance)
 Leif Powis (Sales)

 IFC Advisory Limited                                           +44 (0) 20 3934 6630
 Financial PR and IR                                            baronoil@investor-focus.co.uk (mailto:baronoil@investor-focus.co.uk)
 Tim Metcalfe, Florence Chandler

 

Notes to Editors

Innovate Licence P2478, awarded in September 2019, is currently held by a
joint venture comprising Reabold North Sea Limited ("Reabold", Licence
Administrator, interest 36%), Baron (32%), and Upland Resources (UK Onshore)
Limited (32%). The Licence covers blocks 12/27c, 17/5, 18/1 and 18/2 in the
Inner Moray Firth area of the North Sea and contains the Dunrobin and Golspie
prospects, in a province where regional and local petroleum systems are
considered by the partners to be proven. Target depths are as shallow as 660
metres subsea and water depths are less than 100 metres.

The original key technical work components of the Phase A commitments - those
of seismic reprocessing plus geochemical studies - were delivered during the
second half of 2022 on time and budget with significant input from Baron.
Detailed seismic attribute analysis, designed to investigate candidate direct
hydrocarbon indicators, followed in early 2023. A thorough revised evaluation
of the prospectivity of P2478 was finalised, with the NSTA recording that the
original work programme was fully complete during March 2023.

Consultancy group RPS was engaged by the joint venture to prepare a Competent
Person's Report ("CPR") to provide an independent validation of resource
estimates to a SPE PRMS compliant standard. The CPR was announced and
published on Baron's website on 16 February 2023.

The key points from the CPR include:

·    201mmboe gross unrisked Pmean Prospective Resources on Licence when
aggregated by Baron;

·    the Dunrobin West prospect ("Dunrobin West") estimated to contain
119mmboe gross unrisked Pmean Prospective Resources when aggregated across the
Jurassic and Triassic stacked targets by Baron; and

·    34% Geological Probability of Success (GPoS) at the Dunrobin West
Jurassic primary target, with an estimated 71mmbbl (gross) of Pmean
Prospective Resources.

 

Qualified Person's Statement

Pursuant to the requirements of the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil and
Gas Companies ("AIM MOG"), the technical information and resource reporting
contained in this announcement has been reviewed by Jon Ford BSc, Fellow of
the Geological Society, Technical Director of the Company. Mr Ford has more
than 40 years' experience as a petroleum geoscientist. 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'
SPE PRMS standard.

 

Glossary

 Geological Probability of Success or GPoS  The estimated geological probability of success that exploration activities
                                            will confirm the existence of a significant accumulation of potentially
                                            recoverable petroleum.
 Mean or Pmean                              Reflects a mid-case volume estimate of resource derived using probabilistic
                                            methodology. This is the mean of the probability distribution for the resource
                                            estimates and may be skewed by resource numbers with relatively low
                                            probabilities.
 mmbbl                                      Million barrels of oil.
 mmboe                                      Million barrels of oil equivalent.  Volume derived by dividing the estimate
                                            of the volume of natural gas in billion cubic feet by six in order to convert
                                            it to an equivalent in million barrels of oil and, where relevant, adding this
                                            to an estimate of the volume of oil in millions of barrels.
 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.
 SPE PRMS                                   The Society of Petroleum Engineers' ("SPE") Petroleum Resources Management
                                            System ("PRMS"): 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.

 

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