Parkmead doubles stake in key North Sea gas area

ABERDEEN -- Parkmead, the UK and Netherlands focused independent oil and gas group, has announced that it has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Verus Petroleum (SNS) Limited to acquire a 50% interest in UK North Sea Licence P.2209, which contains the Farne Extension prospect and a further four prospective leads. Licence P.2209 comprises two adjacent blocks, Block 42/19 and Block 42/20b. Parkmead currently holds a 50% interest in the licence and, therefore, this acquisition doubles Parkmead’s equity to 100%. The collection of prospects and leads within the licence, which is operated by Parkmead, have the potential to contain 175 Bcfg initially in place on a most likely, P50 basis. Completion of the acquisition is subject to normal regulatory approvals.

Blocks 42/19 and 42/20b are situated in the Southern Gas basin of the UK North Sea, directly to the south east of Breagh gas field. The Primary play fairway developed on this acreage is the Carboniferous sands, which form the productive reservoirs in the nearby gas fields at Breagh, Kilmar and Cavendish. The most prominent prospect on the block is the Farne Extension, which is a north westerly extension of the Farne prospect mapped in the adjacent block to the east. To date, four additional leads have been indentified at Carboniferous level within the blocks, all of which, like the Farne Extension, are structural closures mapped at Base Permian level.

The Carboniferous contains fluvial channel sandstones, which provide the reservoir intervals in the region of Blocks 42/19 and 42/20b, where clean quartzitic units form the main productive horizons and can contain large volumes of gas in place. Excellent geological seals exist within the area, namely mudstones of the overlying Silverpit Formation and evaporites of the Zechstein Supergroup.

Parkmead’s experienced team of geoscientists intends to obtain new high-quality 3D seismic data in order to refine the largest targets on these blocks, and carry outseismic attribute analysis to predict good quality reservoir areas. This new data will be analyzed to de-risk the targets ahead of drilling decisions.

Parkmead has a 100% track record of drilling success in the UK Southern Gas basin, to date. The Company has drilled two wells in the area, a horizontal appraisal well at Platypus, which flow tested at 27 MMcfgd, and an exploration well at Pharos which discovered a new UK gas field.