AzEire announces multiple Licence Option awards in the North Celtic Sea and Fastnet Basins, offshore Ireland
AzEire Ltd. (“AzEire”), an Ireland focused oil and gas exploration company backed by Seacrest Capital Group, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded two Licencing Options over multiple Blocks and part-Blocks in the North Celtic Sea and Fastnet Basins offshore Ireland. The combined area of these two awards totals around 3,163 km2 and will be held under a Petroleum Prospecting Licence for the duration of the Licencing Option.
The award has been made by the Minister for Communications, Climate Actions and Environment. The Licence Options are as below.
Licence Option 16/31:
Blocks
63/14, 64/1
Part-Blocks
56/26, 56/27, 63/5, 63/8, 63/9, 63/10, 63/13, 63/15, 64/1, 64/2, 64/6
Licence Option 16/32:
Blocks
56/10, 56/14, 56/15, 56/19
Part-Blocks
56/5, 56/20, 57/1, 57/6
The Licencing Options commenced on the 1st December 2016 and will expire on the 30 November 2019. On or before the expiry date of the Licencing Option, AzEire has the option to apply for the transfer of some or all of the acreage to Standard Exploration Licence status.
AzEire has undertaken to complete a work programme which includes the reprocessing and integration of historic seismic data and well data along with acquisition of further new seismic data to supplement the existing broadband seismic which was acquired in 2013.
David Sturt, Managing Director of Azeire, commented: “We are really excited to have been awarded these new licence options in an area which we believe is the true conjugate margin equivalent of the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous section in the Flemish Pass and Jean d’Arc Basins off Newfoundland and Labrador.
When we first started to look at this area we recognised the potential but the historic seismic data suffered severely from data quality issues caused by near-surface geology. We identified the need for a regional modern 2D broadband solution and pre funded a 3,478km 2D seismic survey in 2013. This data quality was significantly improved and illuminated the true potential of these basins.
We are now looking forward to an aggressive exploration program on these new licence areas.”
Paul Murray, Partner, Seacrest Capital Group, commented: “This is the further step in Seacrest's plan to build a significant independent exploration and production company offshore Ireland and follows the recent acquisition of Antrim Energy Ireland, with interests in the North Porcupine Basin. AzEire now has significant acreage positions in the most attractive areas offshore Ireland. Today’s award of these licence options is a result of the quality of AzEire’s technical work and our ongoing commitment to Ireland. Offshore South and West Ireland is an attractive investment environment, with a fiscal system that encourages offshore oil and gas exploration and development at current commodity prices. The attractiveness of the basins offshore Ireland is reflected in the high level of current and planned industry activity, which we are pleased to be playing a key part in.”
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/1198065/azeire-lands-irish-offshore-licences