Baron Oil PLC will push back drilling of El Barco-3X in Peru into 2021 due to impacts of COVID-19. There is no obligation to drill before 2022 in Timor-Leste and there are no plans to drill in the UK in the foreseeable future.
El Barco-3X is in onshore Block XXI, which is in its fifth and last exploration phase but remains in force majeure, with 6 months left in which to drill when lifted. Once the well is drilled, Baron has agreed in principle with PeruPetro to option a 3-year extension.
In the offshore Timor-Leste TL-SO-19-16 production sharing contract (Chuditch PSC), main work in the initial 2-year period of the contract will be to reprocess 800 sq km of 3D seismic data and 2,000 line-km of 2D seismic data. Subject to satisfactory results from reprocessing, a well will be drilled in the third year of the contract’s initial term.
Specialized pre-stack depth migration reprocessing is planned for Inner Moray Firth, offshore license P2478, which contains Dunrobin and Golspie prospects, where work is also being delayed because of COVID-19-related issues.
Initial evaluation of drilling results in license P1918, Colter, indicated that the Colter south prospect had potential to contain commercial quantities of oil, and reduced license acreage continued into its second term in February. Reevaluation of the geophysical information indicates that a further appraisal well is required which, when combined with the recent drop in oil prices, increases the likelihood that the license will be relinquished at or before expiry of its second term on Jan. 31, 2021.
It is unlikely that drilling will take place before onshore Purbeck licenses PEDL330 and PEDL345, expire on July 20, 2021.
Baron has 100% interest in Block XXI, 25% indirect interest in TL-SO-19-16, 15% indirect interest in license P2478, and 8% interest in licenses P1918, PEDL330, and PEDL345.