Spain: Cantabrian basin shale concession awarded

Sept. 21, 2011
A unit of BNK Petroleum Inc., Camarillo, Calif., has acquired 234,000 acres in northern Spain’s Cantabrian basin mainly for shale gas targets.

A unit of BNK Petroleum Inc., Camarillo, Calif., has acquired 234,000 acres in northern Spain’s Cantabrian basin mainly for shale gas targets.

The company said the concession, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon, also has conventional oil and gas potential.

The main target is a Jurassic shale that is 100 m to more than 200 m thick at 2,500-4,500 m in the most prospective areas. The structure and stratigraphy are defined by numerous existing 2D seismic lines and dozens of wells drilled by other operators. Most of the previously drilled wells had oil and-or gas shows in the shale interval and in fractured carbonates above and below the shale.

BNK’s Trofagas Hidrocarburos SL said the concession terms include minimum requirements including geological work in the first year, drilling two wells each in years two, three, and four, and three wells in year five.