Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH) has spudded the next appraisal well on the Sea Lion oil discovery in the remote waters off the Falkland Islands.
Drilling began on the 14/10-5 appraisal well on 1 May 2011.
The well is located just north of the original Sea Lion 14/10-2 discovery well, and it is 13 metres up-dip at top reservoir level. It is designed to appraise the Sea Lion main fan reservoir and to investigate the hydrocarbon column and reservoir distribution.
Rockhopper expects drilling operations to take 38 days and it has mobilised specialist flow test equipment to flow test the well. The company hopes that this test will give it a greater understanding of the discovery.
In March, the second Sea Lion appraisal well helped boost confidence in the discovery’s commerciality, after it found a significant column of oil.
Later in early April a technical report, based on the findings to date, effectively showed that the Sea Lion could be deemed a commercial discovery.
With Rockhopper’s most conservative estimate it believes that it can now recover more than twice the amount of oil from the Sea Lion discovery than it did before the appraisal well. Rockhopper’s low case estimate stands at 156 million barrels of recoverable oil, up from the 66 million barrels estimated in last year’s competent persons report (CPR).
Investors will now await the result of the next appraisal which may further enhance the Sea Lion oil discovery.