Ireland awards Rockall Trough licenses

Ireland's Department of Transport, Energy, and Communications has issued 11 exploration licenses covering 58 full and partial blocks in the Rockall Trough area off western Ireland. Water depths in the area range from 500 m at the margins to more than 2,500 m in the center of the trough. In March 1996, companies were invited to bid for 615 full and 35 part blocks.

June 16, 1997

4 min read

Ireland's Department of Transport, Energy, and Communications has issued 11 exploration licenses covering 58 full and partial blocks in the Rockall Trough area off western Ireland.

Water depths in the area range from 500 m at the margins to more than 2,500 m in the center of the trough. In March 1996, companies were invited to bid for 615 full and 35 part blocks.

High potential

Minister of State Emmet Stagg said, "The Rockall Trough is underexplored and has significant potential for both oil and gas discoveries. It was declared as frontier acreage because of the difficulties relating to its physical environment.

"This is a truly frontier area, but although water depths do range to in excess of 2,000 m, exploration activities are quite feasible, and there are large tracts in water depths where development is becoming manageable with today's technology."

Stagg said several blocks were the subject of competing bids, with four groups applying for one particular block. The licenses require acquisition of seismic data but not drilling.

"Up to 18,000 line km of new 2D seismic and up to 2,000 sq km of 3D seismic data will be acquired and assessed," said Stagg. "I am confident that at the end of the first phase, we will have a much clearer picture of the petroleum potential of the trough.

"Even though frontier exploration licenses do not require drilling any wells during the first phase, one group has committed to drill during that phase, and two other groups will make provisions in their first phase budgets to drill should they identify drillable prospects in the area."

Who got what

Stagg announced license awards as follows:

ARCO was appointed operator, with BG Exploration and Petroleum Ltd. and Anadarko as partners, of Blocks 18/9, 18/10, and 19/6.
BG was made operator, with ARCO and Anadarko as partners, of Blocks 16/27, 25/1 (southern half), 25/2, 25/6, 75/9 (eastern half) and 75/10.
Elf Aquitaine SA as operator, with Phillips Petroleum Co. as partner, was awarded Blocks 25/1 (northern half), 75/4, 75/5, 75/8, and 75/9 (western half).
Operator Elf with partners Phillips and British-Borneo Petroleum Syndicate plc, London, was allocated Blocks 5/18 (part), 5/23, and 5/28.
Enterprise Oil plc was made operator of Blocks 5/16 (part), 5/21, 5/22, 5/26 and 5/27, with partners Mobil Oil Inc., Rimrock, and Union Texas.
Phillips was appointed operator, with Elf as license partner, of Blocks 83/9, 83/10, 83/14 and 83/15.
Phillips as operator and Agip SpA as partner were granted Blocks 11/20, 11/23, 11/24, 11/25, 11/28, 12/11, 12/12, and 12/16.
The same pairing of operator Phillips and partner Agip was also awarded Blocks 75/21, 75/26, 85/25, and 82/30.
Saga Petroleum AS was made operator of Blocks 83/13, 83/18, 83/19 and 83/20, with partners Total SA, Den norske stats oljeselskap AS (Stat oil), and Shell Ireland Ltd.
Statoil was awarded operatorship, with Shell as license partner, of Blocks 10/20, 11/26, 18/4, 18/5, and 19/1.
Shell was made operator, with partners Statoil and BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd., of Blocks 1/17, 1/18, 1/21, 1/22, 1/23, 1/26, 1/27, 77/4, 77/5, 78/25, 78/29, and 78/30.

South Porcupine basin

Stagg also said that the South Porcupine basin, covering 156 blocks in an area centered on quadrants 52, 53, and 54 off southwestern Iceland, will be opened for bidding later this year.

This frontier licensing round will close Dec. 15, 1998.

"This year," said Stagg, "I expect will be a milestone in oil and gas exploration offshore Ireland. We should have, after decades of effort, oil production in Ireland for the first time.

"In April this year, Statoil began an appraisal program in Connemara oil discovery. All being well, they should shortly start to produce oil under an extended well test, and if they declare commerciality, they plan to go into full commercial production next year."